ES. PILBR 31842 5MCNIX 14 NOV91 NAT ED 00000 FL MARYGROVE CLLG LIBRARY £8425 W MCNICHOLS ROAD DETROIT MI 48221-2599 — ee ©1991 Peugeot Motors of America *B don R.L. Polk & Co. owner retention study of "MY 1984-1986, PEUGEOT 1991 405 models from $15,490 to $21,990. MSRP. Excludes tax, title, options, registration and destination charges. Call 1-800-447-4700. In Canada, 1-416-566-1900. After more than a century of building fine automobiles, Peugeot creates cars so well-conceived that some of the best qualities of the car may not be apparent at a glance. But those willing to take the time to look more closely will find themselves richly rewarded. They'll discover a distinctive European automobile whose rare combination of intelligent engineering, legendary driving comfort and enduring style has won the acclaim of automotive enthusiasts the world over. All of which only begins to explain why people who own Peugeots keep them longer than most import cars on the road” Evidently, once you've looke ‘ heyond the obvious, it is difficult to see anything less. 50 78 82 86 88 92 94 NATURAL HISTORY vx. COVER: Lava bursts out of arupture near Puu Oo, Hawaii. The largest eruptions of today are minor when compared with volcanic floods of the geologic past. Story on page 50. Photograph by Greg Vaughn. LETTERS A WELL-TRAVELED WARBLER’S REPERTOIRE Martin G. Kelsey Ina half hour recital, the marsh warbler mimics the calls of seventy-six different species from two continents. THIS VIEW OF LIFE Stephen Jay Gould What the Immaculate Pigeon Teaches the Burdened Mind WORLDS IN CONTACT Samuel M. Wilson Death and Taxes THE MAYA REDISCOVERED Joyce Marcus First Dates THE DINOSAURS OF WINTER Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas H. Rich Paintings by Peter Schouten Australia’s Dinosaur Cove lay close to the South Pole 106 million years ago. TURBULENT WORLD OF MOSS ANIMALS Christopher G. Reed Armed with formidable weapons, tiny bryozoans are constantly engaged in land warfare. ANCIENT FLOODS OF FIRE Robert S. White Driven by hot spots, thick layers of molten rock have flowed over vast regions of the earth. SACRIFICES OF THE HIGH ANDES Juan Schobinger The young boy’s life may have been dedicated to the extended roadway and expansion of the Inca empire. 66 ANOTHER MUMMY Thomas Besom THIS LAND Robert H. Mohlenbrock Cape Breton Highlands, Nova Scotia CELESTIAL EVENTS Thomas D. Nicholson Observatory Hill REVIEWS Jon E. Keeley A Continent on Fire AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM A MATTER OF TASTE Raymond Sokolov The Milky Way THE NATURAL MOMENT Photograph by Boyd Norton Lady of the Flies AUTHORS NATURAL HISTORY ALAN TERNES Editor ELLEN GOLDENSOHN Managing Editor THOMAS PAGE Designer ROBERT B. ANDERSON, CAROL BRESLIN, FLORENCE G, EDELSTEIN (Copy), REBECCA B. FINNELL, ViTTORIO MAESTRO, RICHARD MILNER, JUDY RICE, Kay ZAKARIASEN (Pictures) Board of Editors Doreen E. MANGELS Copy Editor PEGGY CONVERSANO Asst. Designer JEFFREY S. CHAPMAN Editorial Asst. Dera L. BAIDA Picture Asst. JENNY LAWRENCE Editorial Researcher CAROL BARNETTE Text Processor DEIRDRE MULZAC L. THOMAS KELLY Publisher Bari S. EDWARDS General Manager ERNESTINE WEINDORF Asst. to the Publisher Epwarb R. BULLER Business Manager Cary CASTLE Circulation Manager Ramon E. ALVAREZ Direct Mail Manager Jupy LEE Circulation Coordinator BRUNILDA ORTIZ Fulfillment Coordinator MARK ABRAHAM Production Manager Lisa STILLMAN Asst. Production Manager JOHN MATTHEW RAVIDA Advtg. Production Coordinator ADVERTISING SALES (212) 599-5555 310 Madison Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10017 GERALD G. HOTCHKISS Advertising Sales Director EpGar L. HARRISON New York Sales Manager Gorpbon G. BRING, JR., Kim J. Hewson, ARTHUR P. IRVING III, URSULA WEBSTER Account Managers Chicago: Jerry Greco & Assoc, (312) 263-4100 Detroit: Norma Davis (313) 647-791 | Los Angeles: Globe Media Inc, (213) 850-8339 San Francisco: Globe Media Inc. (415) 362-8339 Toronto: American Publishers Reps. (416) 363-1388 AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL History GeorGE D. LANGDON, JR. = WILLIAM T. GOLDEN President and Chairman Chief Executive Board of Trustees Naturat History (ISSN 0028-0712) is published monthly by the American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, N.Y. 10024. Subscriptions: $22.00 a year. In Canada and all other countries: $29.00 a year. Second-class postage paid at New York, N.Y., and at additional mailing offices. Copy- right © 1991 by American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved. No part of this periodical may be reproduced without written consent of Natural History. Send subscription orders and undeliverable copies to the address below. Membership and sub- scription information: Write to address below or call (800) 234- 5252 if urgent. Postmaster: Send address changes to Natural History, Post Office Box 5000, Harlan, IA 51537-5000 2 NaTuRAL History 4 JUMBO SQUIRRELS In the February 1991 issue on pages 6 and 8, Bernd Heinrich (“Nutcracker Sweets”) cites a figure of 117,000 calories as the minimum daily energy requirement of a red squirrel. People on reducing diets are commonly told to keep their caloric intake below 2,000 calories per day, and I have read about an experiment in which soldiers in the far north were allowed to eat all they wanted, and they averaged about 5,000 calories per day in subzero weather. Simple arithmetic with those figures would lead us to believe that one tiny little squirrel eats as much each day as 23.4 very hungry men! And that much is with- out a grain of salt; with a grain of salt we might ask if we’re talking about the same kind of calories. Do squirrels eat milli- calories, pehaps? JoHN S. MERCHANT Eagle, Colorado Dieticians and scientists can measure calories, or heat energy, on vastly different scales. Technically, a “calorie” (c or cal) is defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water 1° C. But the large calorie, also known as the kilogram calorie or kilocalorie (Cal or kcal), one thousand times greater than the scientific calorie, is the one used to mea- sure food energy. Christopher Smith, of Kansas State University, cited in our arti- cle, says that adult male red squirrels need to consume 117 kcal per day, which equals just 117 total dietary calories, as most readers on reducing diets will be gratified to know. Natural History regrets the failure to convert the number to common-sense us- age. In fact, 117,000 calories would fill the daily food requirement of fully 1,000 red squirrels scampering through the maples or of a single, 500-pound red squirrel strik- ing terror into the hearts of North Woods campers.—Ed. WHAT’S IN A NAME? In his article on Maya agriculture “Roots,” February 1991), Don Rice enu- merated several traditional food crops, in- cluding “yucca.” This name has some con- fusion connected with it, which I would like to point out. The desert plants famil- iar to North Americans, genus Yucca, were not, so far as I know, cultivated by the ancient Maya (as the superficially similar Agave was). The crop known today in the Yucatan and Central America as “yucca” or “yuca” is the cassava, also mentioned in the list of crops. Cassava (genus Manihot) is a starchy root crop— one species is the source of tapioca. The plant is quite different from Yucca. The origin of the name “yucca” is not known, but “yuca” is indigenous (Taino). Neither is related to the root of “Yuca- tan,” which apparently is a Spanish ren- dering of a Maya phrase meaning “What did he say?” Davip S. Kyser Ridgecrest, California A Sticky BusINEss After a long search, our printer, Ringier America, of Jonesboro, Arkan- sas, has finally found an adhesive that performs two conflicting tasks. It holds - the mailing label securely while the — magazine passes through the perils of ; the U. S. Post Office, yet the label peels — off cleanly when the subscriber wants to remove it. We hope this wonder of adhesion — technology will make everyone happy: © our designer and the many readers who have complained about the defacing of our beautiful covers; and environmen- talists everywhere who object to plastic — wrappers and realize that the magazine can be recycled more easily without the address label and its adhesive. It should also help protect the privacy of the many civic-minded subscribers who recycle their Natural Historys to libraries and schools. The new adhesive was used for mail-_ ing labels attached to this issue, so you may want to test it. If you have any problems, please tell us, as we know from experience you will_—Ed. i Birds of Cape St. Mary’s Come for the vistas. The world you know stops where the waves meet the scenic shores of New- foundland and Labrador. Discover the natural beauty that has stood unchanged since the Vikings arrived on these shores 1,000 years ago. From the towering fjords of Gros Morne to the mammoth headlands of Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador remains a panorama of extraordinary proportions. Amidst this breathtaking scenery choose accommodations that best suit your tastes, from first-class hotels to comfortable motels or escape to one of the province’s many hospitality homes that dot the countryside. Here you’ll come face to face with the hospitality that truly sets Newfoundland and Labrador apart. Sample local delicacies such as Atlantic salmon and cod tongues, sit back and enjoy a tall yarn or two. This year discover ‘‘A World of Difference” in Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. of Diference, cal now TOLL FREE: L-OOO-5635-6553. NEWEO AND IAB The transfer of accurate, organized information. In every For example, GTE Directories Corporation publishes venue, it is the power to motivate essential action. 1,100 telephone information directories around the world, At GTE, we make sure that power is at hand. When in seven languages, with a total circulation of more you need it. Where you need it. than 52 million. Directories that provide necessary infor. nation. Emergency information. Usable information. customers for their purchases at participating stores. Also, at GTE Retail Information Services, we are Vital information made easily accessible. It gives you urrently introducing innovative software applications the power to direct your own destiny. ke Giftlink, a new program to reward brand-loyal And at GTE, the power is on. i NA ACCESSIBLE INFORMATION. THE POWER TO MOVE A SOCIETY. | GTE 7 enn 1 1E POWER 1S ON Saas A Well-traveled Warbler’s Repertoire As it migrates from English hedgerows to Zambian acacia groves, the bird collects songs by Martin G. Kelsey I am sitting in a steep, fallow field in the English midlands. At one o’clock on this morning in early June, only the distant rumble of traffic and the occasional bark of a fox ruffle the silence of the night. And then, just as I am sinking my hands even deeper into my coat pockets against the growing chill, a clear, urgent song comes from the tall vegetation of the valley bot- tom, spreading across the field like a bea- con of sound. It is confusingly complex, incorporating faithful copies of the songs and calls of a host of birds. Here and there I recognize sounds that I have heard the day before: the chatter of sparrows, alarm calls of thrushes, snatches of skylark song, a swallow’s twitter. But mixed in with these are sounds I recognize only later: songs that emanate not only from the fa- miliar birds of the English hedgerows and meadows but also from those of the Afri- can savannas and bushlands—drongos, bee eaters, weaverbirds, and sunbirds. The mimic responsible for this noctur- nal medley is a small, brown bird, the marsh warbler. For just three or four days of the season, the marsh warbler sings nearly nonstop, day and night, from patches of lush vegetation beside rivers and ditches. This intensive singing spans the period between the return of a male to his breeding territory and the arrival of a female. After that, nighttime singing ceases, and song is then given only in short bursts during territorial combat. The marsh warbler is a migrant, spend- ing just two months or so on its central Eurasian breeding grounds—from the British Isles eastward to the Ural Moun- tains—before leaving in August on a five- month odyssey to tropical Africa, where it spends the remainder of the year before returning north in April. I wanted to find out how marsh warblers, along with an estimated five billion individuals of other 6 NaTuRAL History 4/ northern migrant species, competed for their diet of insects with the many perma- nent insectivorous residents of Africa. So for three years I, too, became a migrant, matching my annual cycle with that of the warbler. In 1984, I met the Belgian scientist Frangoise Dowsett-Lemaire, who had studied marsh warblers ten years earlier. Particularly interested in song, she was the first person to describe the extent of the marsh warbler’s ability to imitate other species. Using a sonograph, which provides a sort of sonic fingerprint for each burst of song, she painstakingly com- pared marsh warblers’ songs with those of other birds to match up the imitation with the real thing and to double-check each apparent case of mimicry. She found that marsh warblers imitated more than 210 species, on average mimicking 76 differ- ent species during a thirty-minute bout of song. Dowsett-Lemaire suggested that if I was interested in studying marsh warblers in Africa, I should go to Zambia, in south- central Africa. There in the heart of the warbler’s wintering range was an ideal study area: Lochinvar National Park. I arrived in Africa in January 1985, to be welcomed by Geoffrey Howard of the University of Zambia. Within two days I was established at Lochinvar. The rainy season was just beginning, and the scat- tered thickets were bursting out in leaf. The coarse-stemmed grass was growing rapidly, and within a few weeks it would stand more than three feet high. Much of the habitat consisted of abandoned maize fields. Superficially, it resembled my study areas in England where marsh war- blers breed in nettle and willow herb beds, singing and hunting for insects in nearby clumps of willow trees and hawthorn bushes. Within minutes of setting out on my first walk at Lochinvar, I found a marsh warbler. Renewing the acquaintance of a species that I had known so intimately in Europe in such different circumstances was an extraordinary experience. As I watched, the bird moved from one grass stem to another, reaching out at full stretch to pick an insect from the under- side of a leaf. Something then caught its attention, and it flew up into an acacia bush and flattened its body feathers, adopting an elongated stance. It peered into the center of the bush, then flew in, to reappear later chasing out another marsh warbler. Shortly afterward, I heard the chatter- ing of small birds that is often associated with mobbing behavior, their ganging up to harry a lone predator, as when North American blue jays scold and chase a hawk. Looking for the source of the alarm, I found a mamba snake resting on a branch. Frenzied birds surrounded it. Snakes are important predators of birds, particularly of eggs and helpless young. I scanned the bush and among several Afri- can species of birds found two species of European migrants: an icterine warbler and two more marsh warblers. These casual observations, while inter- esting, could amount to no more than an- ecdotes in any rigorous scientific study. So I set about marking as many individuals as possible so that I could map out home ranges and follow the day-to-day move- ments and behavior of known individuals. I achieved this by mist netting, marking, and releasing all migrants. I fitted each bird with a unique combination of colored plastic bands, which could be read easily in the field with binoculars. Three times a day I surveyed a set route, taking three hours on each survey to crisscross my twenty-acre study area. I plotted every sighting of a marsh warbler on a large- Van Kampen Merritt Short-Ierm Global Income Fund Higher returns on quality, short-term investments are favorable market conditions all around the world, not just here. often found outside of the United States. We can help you As the sponsor of over $25 billion in unit trusts and mu- take advantage of this situation with the new Van Kampen tual funds, Van Kampen Merritt has a wealth of experience Merritt Short-Term Global Income Fund. It invests in delivering timely investments such as this. high-quality, short-term foreign and domestic securities It’s a big world out there. Turn it into a big opportunity denominated in various currencies from stable industrial for you. 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In addition, the Fund intends to engage in hedging and risk management transactions to seek to minimize fluctuations in net asset value which are due to changes in currency exchange rates. The principal value and investment return of Fund shares will vary with market conditions and may, when sold, be more or less than at the time of purchase. ®denotes registered trademark of Van Kampen Merritt THE ALLOSAURUS TOTEBAG This classic black all-cotton canvas totebag announces support for the American Museum of Natural . History simply and elegantly in white on the side pocket. (12” wide x 11” deep, with 4” gussets) Please send______ Allosaurus Totebags at $23.00 each including shipping and handling. NAME_ ADDRESS CITY STATE/ZIP METHOD OF PAYMENT ——Check or money order —— MasterCard __ Visa “ To order send check or money order for $23.00 per totebag to Members’ Book Program, American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, New York, NY 10024. Or call toll-free 1-800-43 7-0033 for credit card orders. y 8 NATURAL Histo: scale map and recorded its habitat and behavior. I discovered as many northern migrant individuals as African residents among the small insectivorous birds, and the most common migrant of all was the marsh warbler. When the rainy season in south- ern Africa provides a bumper crop of food, the incoming migrants arrive to ex- ploit it. Throughout the tropics, migrants from high latitudes tend to occupy habi- tats that vary climatically, and thus in food availability, from season to season. Perhaps they choose these areas because they contain fewer permanent local avian residents, which would find living in them difficult in the leaner, drier periods of the year. Very few migrants move into the lowland equatorial rain forests, which change little from one season to another and may sustain a larger population of resident African birds. In Lochinvar National Park the marsh warblers arrive in late December, just as the grass layer is becoming lush. Their surprising abundance in my study area might be linked with their use of patches of long grass, as well as bushes, for forag- ing. Most of the other small insectivorous birds concentrated their activities in trees and bushes. On their breeding grounds in the North- ern Hemisphere, male marsh warblers are territorial only for the period prior to the arrival of the female and during her fertile period, which usually lasts less than ten days. The defended area itself is small, often no more than 120 square yards, al- though feeding areas are larger and usu- ally overlap considerably. I found that when some marsh warblers reached Af- rica, they spent their entire sojourn within small patches, similar in area to breeding territories, although these overlapped with neighbors’ areas. The chase between two marsh warblers that I had witnessed on my first day in Zambia was evidence of competition. I saw such chases quite often during the birds’ arrival period when they were attempting to establish bases, but rarely saw them once the wintering popu- lation had stabilized. Other strands of evi- dence suggested that individuals main- tained a level of territoriality even if competition for resources seemed slight at the time. The relative abundance of northern mi- grants was not the only surprise in my study site. Song, too, was abundant. Dur- ing survey walks in the Zambian bush, I would stop, shut my eyes, and imagine myself to be standing at the edge of a central European wood. Most of the song I heard came not from the African resi- | dents (many of which were now quietly in the midst of their breeding season) but from the migrants that I had come to study. Marsh warblers sang from the lower branches of bushes. Tiny willow warblers produced thin, delicate cadences from the tops of acacias, alongside icterine warblers with their nasal, ambling song. Garden warblers sang softly from thick- ets, and red-backed shrikes whispered raspingly from the same thorn bushes on which they had impaled their prey of small frogs. This winter singing fascinated me. Possibly it was simply a reflection of internal, hormonal changes that the birds were experiencing. Changes in testoster- one levels can influence behavior enor- mously, and if gradual gonadal changes were taking place to prepare the birds for the breeding season (still several months and a long migratory journey away), then the onset of singing, I thought, might be an external expression of this. I found that marsh warblers spent, on average, a seventh of the day singing but produced no song whatsoever at night. And although song output peaked just af- ter dawn, it was usually delivered as short bursts during each hour of daylight. Indi- viduals seemed to be uttering, at frequent intervals, a few song phrases during the course of their other, everyday activities, as if they were giving regular reminders to neighbors of their presence. Plotting the song positions on a map revealed some- thing that was not obvious to me in the field. Individual feeding areas overlapped; the areas in which individual marsh war- blers sang did not. The singers seemed to be declaring ownership of distinct core areas within their territory. What was the purpose of maintaining such a stake? If food was as abundant as it appeared to be, why could not individuals roam freely? Why give up part of the day to singing in a territory? Possibly the birds were laying claim to resources for insur- ance purposes—not to satisfy immediate requirements, but to safeguard a supply for leaner times in the future. Studies of birds elsewhere have shown that some spe- cies will defend a resource even when food is plentiful and widespread. Barbara and David Snow described such behavior with mistle thrushes in England, which guard berry-laden bushes in the fall to insure fruit supplies in the depths of winter. That study provokes the fascinating thought that we have mistle thrushes to thank in England for the availability of yuletide holly berries. In Zambia, marsh warblers start to sing when their annual molt begins. They molt rapidly, and for a time they cannot fly well. This means that they need to depend upon resources of a small patch to meet Kal TPE) 255. Frida was a magnetic personality celebrated as much for her life as for her paintings. QPB: $13.95 321. Stephen Hawking offers a convincing big pic- ture of the origins of the cosmos. Hardcover: $18.95 QPB: $8.95 s PB tee IP PD | 16 eto AMERICAN INDIAN MYTHS AND Learns 1% P BP © 457. A rich collec- tion of North Amer- ican Indian folklore. R CESS. Hardcover: $19.95 QPB: $10.95 en OXFORD DICTIQNADY *482. 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Send me 3 books for $3. No commitment. No fear, Please enroll me in QPB and send me the 3 choices I've listed below, billing me only $1 each, plus shipping and handling charges. I understand that I am not required to buy another book. You will send me the QPB Review (if my account is in good standing) for at least 1-16 six months. If I have not bought ee ee Indicate by number at least one book in any your 3 choices six-month period, you may cancel my membership. ® Name (Please print clearly) | (QB113-4-0 QPB]] Quality Paperback — Address Apt. Book Club City State Zip Prices are generally higher in Canada. © 1991 Quality Paperback Book Club. All orders subject to approval. | | | | | | | | | | | | ee] Onits European breeding grounds, a marsh warbler runs through its repertoire. the extra nutritional and energetic de- mands of molt. They, presumably, are re- luctant to venture far for food, being par- ticularly vulnerable to predation at the time. The rains end when most marsh war- blers are still molting and before they have prepared for migration. A known, depend- able source of food might be of crucial importance, and its maintenance might indeed justify the risk of a bird’s advertis- ing its presence to potential predators dur- ing the rigors of heavy molt. In a stay of perhaps four months at its wintering site, a bird will learn many things crucial for survival—for example, the best and safest places to feed and to roost and the numbers and kinds of preda- tors and competitors it is likely to encoun- ter—that will stand it in good stead in the future. Time spent one year learning about local conditions can be used the next to secure and maintain ownership of the choice patches. Learning the ropes ina new site takes time and involves predation risks, and it may be why migrant birds of many kinds are remarkably faithful to cer- tain breeding areas. In my study population of marsh war- blers, just under half returned the follow- ing winter to the same patch of thickets. The annual mortality rate of such birds is thought to be approximately 50 percent. If this is so, I was witnessing the return of almost the entire surviving population. In a feat of navigation, the warblers success- 10 NATuRAL Hist fully rediscover, not just Zambia or Lochinvar National Park, but the very same clump of bushes they occupied a year earlier, after a journey of perhaps 4,800 miles. This odyssey takes the marsh warbler from Europe, through the Middle East and the Arabian Peninsula, across the Red Sea to Sudan and into northeast Africa, the semiarid thorn-bush savannas of east- ern Kenya, and then southward. Much of what we know of the migration route comes from conventional techniques of migration study: banding and observation. In Kenya, for example, some 30,000 marsh warblers have been trapped, banded, and released during their noctur- nal, long-distance migration when at- tracted to the powerful game-viewing lamps at the Ngulia Safari Lodge in Tsavo West National Park. Indeed, we probably know more about the migration patterns of this species than those of many of the 200 or so species that migrate from Eur- asia into Africa. However, parts of the journey remain mysteries. For example, what happens to marsh warblers for the six to eight weeks between their arrival in Sudan in August and their subsequent reappearance in Kenya in late October? We do not know if the birds stop migrating altogether and occupy resting areas or continue migrating but at a very slow pace. The latter possibility has been sug- gested by experiments at the Max Planck Gertrud and Helmut Denzau Institute in Germany to record internal annual migratory rhythms in marsh war- — blers. Searches in Ethiopia have failed to turn up more than a few individuals. There is, however, one additional source of information. During the first months of its life, the marsh warbler learns the songs and calls of birds not just from its birthplace and wintering area but also from its migration route. This learn- ing equips the marsh warbler with a ready- made, elaborate song with which to at- tract a mate and defend a territory. It also gives us an audio-travelogue. When Fran- goise Dowsett-Lemaire investigated the repertoires of twenty marsh warblers, she found that almost all imitated some spe- cies of very localized distribution in northeast Africa. The material exists for a dedicated ornitho-detective, armed with knowledge of the songs and calls of suit- able indicator species from Europe and Africa, to decipher the marsh warbler’s song and to unravel further the migratory story of this species. In the valleys of cen- tral Europe, for a few nights every spring, the marsh warbler sings its secret. Martin G. Kelsey studied marsh warblers while at the Edward Grey Institute of Field Ornithology at Oxford University. He is currently Programme Officer for the Americas at the International Council for Bird Preservation, based in Cam- bridge, England. Shown smaller than actual size of 8” in diameter. World-famous artist Margaret Keane brings a winter wonderland to life in a collector’s plate of timeless appeal. a cf The works of world- famous artist Margaret Keane are prized by knowledgeable collectors throughout the world. There’s a secret place where love is alive...and animals are friends bere" a” SRS aT Se eC ae oA ergex. Signed limited edition collector plate. It’s Pu’s Polar Playground! Where an adorable little Eskimo girl plays Hand-bordered and numbered with 24 karat gold. with her polar companions in their ice-covered wonderland. 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Please bill me $29.50* when my imported plate is ready to be sent to me. ‘Plus my state sales tax and a one-time charge of $2.95 for shipping and handling. be closed forever after 45 firing days. Plus you will have the privilege — ale ALL ORDERS ARE SUBJECT TO ACCEPTANCE but not the obligation—to acquire future first-edition plates with this heart-warming theme. MEUMRS/MISS PLEASE PRINT CLEARLY THIRTY DAY RETURN ASSURANCE POLICY lf you wish to return any Franklin Mint purchase, you may do so within pene 30 days of your receipt of that purchase for replacement, credit or CITY/STATE/ZIP refund, ©1991 FM 14451-19 THIS VIEW OF LIFE What the Immaculate Pigeon Teaches the Burdened Mind To support his theory, Darwin studied the rock dove and its descendants by Stephen Jay Gould Two successive symbols of Saint Louis typify the passages of our century. Saari- nen’s magnificent arch, gleaming and immaculate, seems to soar from the Mis- sissippi River into heaven (an optical illu- sion, in large part, cleverly produced by a gradual decrease in edge length from fifty-four feet at the base of the structure to seventeen feet at the summit. Our minds work on the expectation of a con- stant size, and the marked decrease there- fore makes the summit seem ever so much higher than its-actual 630 feet—the size of an ordinary skyscraper in a modern city). By contrast, Saint Louis’s older symbol, an equestrian! statue of the eponymous Louis IX, the only canonized king of France, still stands in front of the Art Museum in Forest Park. It is anything but immaculate, thanks to that primary spot- ting agent of all cities—pigeons. As a team, pigeons and the statue of Saint Louis go way back. The current statue is a 1906 recasting in bronze of the impermanent original made for the main entrance to one of the world’s greatest expositions—the 1904 World’s Fair, held to celebrate (if just a bit late) the cente- nary of the Louisiana Purchase. The Fair must have been spectacular; my wife’s family, raised in Saint Louis, still men- tions it with awe in stories passed down through three generations. The Fair gave us iced tea, ice cream cones, and a great song, “Meet Me in Saint Louis, Louis” (many folks don’t even know the next line, “Meet me at the Fair’). A Ferris wheel stood twenty-five stories high; Scott Joplin played his rags. The Pike, main street of the amusement area, featured daily reenactments of the Boer War and the Galveston Flood. The worid’s 12 NaTurRAL History 4/9! greatest athletes came to participate in the third Olympic Games. The fair- grounds, bathed at night in the newfan- gled invention of electric lighting, inspired Henry Adams to write: The world has never witnessed so marvel- ous a phantasm; by night Arabia’s crimson sands had never returned a glow half so astonishing [a statement that will need revi- sion after the night bombing of our Desert Storm], as one wandered among long lines of white palaces, exquisitely lighted by thousands and thousands of electric can- dles, soft, rich, shadowy, palpable in their sensuous depths [from The Education of Henry Adams]. This statement also makes sense of the next two lines of the famous song: “Don’t tell me the lights are shining / Any place but there.” Intellectuals must be constantly clever and industrious. We know that we are peripheral to society’s main thrust, and we must be constantly vigilant in seeking opportunities to piggyback on larger en- terprises—to find something so big and so expensive that prevailing powers will grant us a bit of space and attention at the edges. The hoopla and funding of major exhibitions often give us a little room for a smaller celebration in our own style. I was invited to give a speech at something called the Academic Olympiad in Seoul during the last great athletic show. (I wasn’t able to go and never heard boo about the outcome—although television deluged us with all the details about jave- lins and the hop, step, and jump.) Simi- larly, as the 1904 World’s Fair led to the establishment of Washington University, academicians rallied to hold a Congress of Arts and Science at the Universal Expo- sition (as the Fair was officially called). At this convocation, the great American bi- ologist Charles Otis Whitman gave a lead- ing address with the general title: “The Problem of the Origin of Species.” He spoke primarily about pigeons. Whitman’s work, while treating so humble a subject, had a certain panache and boldness. He wrote at a time when biologists, although fully confident about the fact of evolution, had become very confused and polemical about the causes of evolutionary change. Darwin’s own the- ory of natural selection had never com- manded majority support (and would not emerge as a consensus until the 1930s). As visitors ate their first ice cream cones on the Pike, at least three other theories of evolutionary change enjoyed strong sup- port among biologists: (1) the inheritance of acquired characters, or “Lamarckism”; (2) the origin of species in sudden jumps of genetic change, or “mutationism”; (3) the unfolding of evolution along limited path- ways set by the genetic and developmental programs of organisms, or “orthogenesis” (literally, “straight line generation”). Whitman, who had been raising and breeding pigeons for decades, defended the last alternative, orthogenesis, and thereby relegated Darwinian natural se- lection to a small and subsidiary role in evolution. Whitman’s boldness did not lie in his choice of the orthogenetic theory, for this argument was a strong contender in his day, although probably the least popular of the three major alternatives to Darwin- ism. We judge a man intrepid when he uses his adversary’s tools or data to sup- port a rival system. 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Ruth, by contrast (and following the strategy of all sluggers), held the bat at the end and swung away, missing far more often than he connected. Cobb regarded this style as easy and vulgar, however ef- fective. One day near the end of his career, and to show his contempt in the most public way, Cobb ostentatiously held the bat in Ruth’s manner, hit three home runs in a single game, and then went right back to his older, favored style forever after. Whitman’s assault on Darwin’s theory from within was far bolder and more sus- tained, if not quite so showy. For Whitman had chosen, for study over decades, the very organisms—pigeons—that Darwin had selected as the primary empirical sup- port for his own theory. Darwin stated in chapter one of the Origin of Species: Believing that it is always best to study some special group, I have, after delibera- tion, taken up domestic pigeons. I have kept every breed which I could purchase, or ob- tain, and have been most kindly favored with skins from several quarters of the world.... I have associated with several eminent fanciers, and have been permitted to join two of the London Pigeon Clubs. Darwin stated an excellent reason for his choice in the next sentence: The diversity of the breeds is something Darwin included this illustration of the “showiest” pigeon breed, the English fantail, in his book The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. AMNH 14. Narturat History 4/9} astonishing. Compare the English carrier and the short-faced tumbler, and see the wonderful difference in their beaks.... The common tumbler has the singular and strictly inherited habit of flying at a great height in a compact flock, and tumbling in the air head over heels... . The Jacobin has the feathers so much reversed along the back of the neck that they form a hood. . . . The fantail has thirty or. even forty tail- feathers, instead of twelve or fourteen, the normal number in all members of the great pigeon family; and these feathers are kept expanded, and are carried so erect that in good birds the head and tail touch. These breeds are so different that any specialist, if “he were told that they were wild birds,” would assume major taxo- nomic distinctions based upon substantial differences. “I do not believe,” Darwin wrote, “that any ornithologist would place the English carrier, the short-faced tum- bler, the runt, the barb, pouter, and fantail in the same genus.” And yet, demonstrably by their inter- breeding and their known history, all these pigeons belong to the same species and therefore have a common evolutionary source—the rock pigeon, Columba livia. Darwin wrote: “Great as the differences are between the breeds of pigeons, I am fully convinced that the common opinion of naturalists is correct, namely, that all have descended from the rock-pigeon (Co- lumba livia).” (Darwin might have cho- sen the even more familiar example of dogs to make the same point, but he was not convinced that all dog breeds came from a common wolf source, whereas the evidence for a single progenitor of all pi- geons seemed incontrovertible.) Only one step—the key analogical argument that powers the entire Origin of Species—te- mained to secure the most important argu- ment in the history of biology and to make pigeons the heroes of reform: if human breeding of pigeons could produce, in a few thousand years at most, differences apparently as great as those separating genera, then why deny to a vastly more potent nature, working over millions of years, the power to construct the entire history of life by evolution? Why acknowl- edge the plain fact of evolution among pigeons and then insist that all natural species, many no more different one from the other than pigeon breeds, were created by God in their permanent form? Whitman, of course, did not disagree with Darwin’s focal contention that pi- geons had evolved, but he strongly ques- tioned Darwin’s opinion on how they and other species had arisen. Charles Otis Whitman (1842-1910), although scarcely a household name today, was the leading American biologist of his generation. He was, perhaps, the last great thinker to span the transition from the pre-Darwinian world to the rise of twentieth-century ex- perimental traditions—for he had studied with Louis Agassiz, the last true creation- ist of real stature, and he lived to found and direct the symbol of modernism in American biology, the Marine Biological Laboratory at Woods Hole. In his re- search, Whitman was best known for meticulous work on “cell lineage” studies in embryology—tracing the eventual fate of the first few embryonic cells in forming various parts of the body. In promoting this form of research as canonical in Woods Hole, and in establishing at his new laboratory the finest young American biologists, Whitman succeeded in bring- ing to this country the experimental and mechanistic traditions championed as the soul of “modernism” in Europe. In this light, I have always had trouble remembering that Whitman’s main love in research lay in the opposite camp of “old-fashioned” and largely descriptive natural history—decades of work on the raising, breeding, and observation of pi- geons. This passion even led to his death. In Chicago (where he served as professor of biology at the university), on the first chill day of December 1910, Whitman worked all afternoon in his backyard, hast- ily preparing winter quarters for his pi- geons to save them from the cold. As a result, he developed pneumonia and died five days later. F R. Lillie, once his assis- tant and then his successor at Woods Hole, eulogized his old boss: “In his zeal for his pigeons, he forgot himself.” Unfortunately, Whitman died before completing and integrating his lifelong work on pigeons. He had published a few preliminary addresses (most notably, his offering in Saint Louis), but never the promised major statement. I can’t help thinking that the history of evolutionary thought might have been different had Whitman lived to promulgate and prosely- tize his non-Darwinian evolutionary ideas. His colleagues did gather his notes and data into a three-volume posthumous work on pigeons, which finally appeared in 1919. But this work (the basis of my essay) was too disjointed, too incomplete, and above all, too late to win its potential influence. Darwin’s pigeon agenda had been wider than the simple demonstration of evolu- tion. He also wished to promote his own theory about how evolution had oc- curred—natural selection. Again, he re- lied on argument by analogy: pigeon breeds had been made by artificial selec- tion based on human preferences for gaudiness (pouters, fantails) or utility (carriers, racers). When a bird presenting some conspicuous variation has been preserved, and its off- spring have been selected, carefully matched, and again propagated, and so on- wards during successive generations, the principle is so obvious that nothing more need be said about it. [This quotation comes from Darwin’s most extensive dis- cussion of pigeons, two long chapters in his 1868 book, The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication. Other state- ments are cited from the Origin of Species, 1859.] May not those naturalists who ... admit that many of our domestic races have descended from the same parents— may they not learn a lesson of caution, when they deride the idea of species in a state of nature being lineal descendants of other species? Orthogeneticists like Whitman did not deny natural selection but viewed Dar- win’s force as too weak to accomplish any- thing but a bit of superficial tinkering. Natural selection, they argued, can make nothing, and can only accept or reject the variation that arises naturally among dif- fering organisms in an interbreeding population. If the genetic and embryologi- cal systems of organisms prescribe a defi- nite direction to this variability, then natu- ral selection is rendered powerless to set the course of evolutionary change. Sup- pose, for example, that size in offspring only varied in a single direction from pa- rental dimensions; that is, all kids ended up either the same size or taller than their folks. What could natural selection do? Darwin’s force could hasten an inherent trend by favoring the taller offspring. At most, selection could prevent a trend, and keep the population stable, by eliminating the taller offspring and preserving only those of parental dimensions. But selec- tion could not work counter to the inherent direction of variation because no raw ma- terial would be available for trends in any direction other than increasing size. Thus, selection would be a force subsidiary to the internal tendency for directional varia- tion, or orthogenesis. Darwin, of course, was aware of the logic of this destructive argument. He Inch for inch, ounce for ounce, the purest form of optical perfection you can pull out of a pocket! Powerful and versatile with all the quality features of Leica’s full size binoculars less the size and weight. Just 3% x 214 x 1%" folded— under 8 oz. Available in 8 x 20 and 10 x 25 power, in shockproof armoring or black leather. Lifetime warranty and 3 year No-Fault Passport Protection. eicda: The freedom to see SHOWN ACTUAL SIZE FOR INFORMATION, COLOR BROCHURES OR DEALER NAME, CALL (800) 222-0118; IN NJ (201) 767-7500. IS The two-barred wing pattern, as shown in Whitman’s work, Orthogenetic Evolution in Pigeons AMNH countered by claiming that variation has no inherent direction and occurs “at ran- dom” relative to the favored path of natu- ral selection. (This is the context for Dar- win’s confusing claim that variation is random—a statement that has led many people into the worst vernacular miscon- ception about Darwinism: the false belief that Darwin viewed evolutionary change itself as random, and that the manifest order of life therefore disproves his theory. In Darwin’s scheme, variation is random, but natural selection is a deterministic force, adapting organisms to changes in their local environments. In fact, Darwin made his claim about the randomness of variation in order to empower natural se- lection as a directional agent.) If variation is only random raw material, occurring in no favored direction relative to environ- mental advantages, then some other force must shape this formless potential into adaptive change. Random raw material needs another force to carve out and pre- serve the advantageous portion—and nat- ural selection plays this role in Darwin’s system. But orthogenetically directed variation requires no other shaping force and can set an evolutionary trend all by itself. Whitman therefore set out to prove that an inherent trend in variation pervades the pigeon lineage—a trend too powerful for natural selection to alter in direction or even to slow substantially. Whitman based his argument on the bird’s patterns of coloration. The feral pigeons that speckle our pub- 16 Natura History 4/91 lic statuary show two basic color patterns in their extensive repertoire of variation. Some have two black bars on the front edges of their wings and a uniform gray color elsewhere; others develop black splotches, called checkers, on some or all wing feathers, but also retain the two bars (although usually in more indistinct form). The bars, in any case, are com- posed of checkers (on several adjacent feathers) that line up to produce the im- pression of a broad, continuous stripe. Darwin had assumed that ancestral pi- geons were two-barred and that checkers represented an evolved modification by intensification of coloration. Whitman re- versed Darwin’s perspective: The latter [two-barred] was regarded by Darwin as the typical wing pattern for Co- lumba livia; the former [checkered] was supposed to be a variation arising there- from, a frequent occurrence but of no im- portance. Just the contrary is true; the checkered pigeon represents the more an- cient type, from which the two-barred type has been derived. This reversal is of no great significance in itself, unless you happen to be a pigeon fancier devoted to the peculiarities of these generally unloved creatures. But Whitman made much of his inversion be- cause his favored sequence of checkers-to- bars formed the major part of his pro- posed (and inexorable) orthogenetic sequence of internally prescribed varia- tion—an evolutionary pattern inherent in the biological organization of pigeons and quite beyond the power of natural selec- The checkered pattern of pigeon wing, also from Whitman’s posthumous monograph \MNH tion to deflect. The orthogenetic trend, Whitman argued, moved from original. diffusion to later concentration of color. Checkers plus indistinct bars must come before clear bars and no checkers. In the lines following the quotation just cited, Whitman wrote: The direction of evolution in pattern in the rock pigeons has been from a condition of relative uniformity to one of regional dif- ferentiation. But Whitman had an even bolder vi- sion, based on the same orthogenetic pat- tern. Checkers-to-bars was no circum- scribed peculiarity of domestic pigeons but only part of a much more extensive orthogenetic trend that pervaded the en- tire pigeon family (including all other spe- cies from mourning dove to passenger pi- geon, which became extinct in the decade between Whitman’s death and the posthu- mous publication of his monograph), and perhaps even all coloration in birds—an inherent and ineluctable progression from an original homogeneous checkering on all feathers, to the concentration of color in certain areas (checkers plus bars, and then to bars alone), to the reduction and weakening of these concentrations, to the final elimination of all color. Whitman located the ancestral state in the uniform checkering of some species—the “turtle dove pattern” in his terminology—and the final goal in some idealized, albinized ver- sion of the Holy Ghost, depicted as a pure white dove in so many medieval paintings. In short, and in his words, from uniform spotting to “immaculate monochrome,” a most unpigeonlike state (in both appear- ance and deed), at least in our metaphors (also the quotation that piqued my inter- est, inspired this essay, and cast my initial thoughts toward Saint Louis). In a re- markable vision of inexorable movement through the entire great family of pigeons, Whitman wrote: When we look around among allied species and see the same bars reduced to about half dimensions in the rock pigeon of Manchu- ria, reduced to mere remnants of two to six spots in the stock dove, carried to complete obsoletion [sic] or to a few shadowy remi- niscences in... Columba rufina of Brasil, gone past return in some of our domestic breeds and in many of the wild [doves and pigeons]—when we see all these stages multiplied and varied through some 400 to 500 wild species and 100 to 200 domestic breeds, and in general tending to the same goal, we begin to realize that they are ... Slowly passing phases in the progress of an orthogenetic process of evolution, which seems to have no fixed goal this side of an immaculate monochrome—possibly none short of complete albinism. Moreover, while the progress of the Choose Any One Of Our Best-Selling Nature Books For Just $1 When You Join The Nature Book Society! #003-5 Retail $29.95 #000-4 Retail $29.95 ac Endangered Kin, Discover a world where grizzlies roam wild... birds nest undisturbed... and man finds adventure in some of the most beautiful and exotic places on earth... OL OLE I sacra, TO SAVE pe ean 5 Ws iDUFE " #615- 2 #593-0 #999-0 Retail $24. 95 Retail $35 #644-0 “ #009-8 #608-5 #357-0 #086-0 #335-0 Retail $22.95 Retail $26.95 Retail $24.95 . Retail $21.95 mee Te “TLUSTRATED 2 egy -NCYCLOPEDIAS : #934-9 #316-0 #192-0 #614-6 #106-7 Retail $18.95 Retail $24.95 Retail $26.95 Retail $29.95 Retail $29.95 EE ED, EE SD... 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Box 10875, Des Moines, IA 50336 ] AMNH trend may be “lengthened or shortened, strengthened or weakened” by such sub- sidiary forces as natural selection, the or- thogenetic sequence is invariable: The steps are seriated in a causal, genetic order—an order that admits no transposi- tions, no reversals, no mutational skips, no unpredictable chance intrusions. When we discern the proper sequence of orthogenetic stages, evolution may be- come a predictive science: “Not only is the direction of the change hitherto discover- able, but its future course is predictable.” I have not resurrected Whitman’s largely forgotten work in order to defend orthogenesis as a replacement for natural selection, for this is truly a dead issue decided long ago in Darwin’s favor. Rather, from my deep admiration of Whitman’s keen intelligence and my abid- ing respect for his decades of careful work with pigeons, I do wish to point out that his conclusions were not foolish and that sev- eral aspects of his work would repay our close study, even today. Consider three points that might prompt sympathy and interest. 1. The false charge of teleology. The standard one-liners of evolution texts dis- miss orthogenesis as a theistically in- spired, last-gasp effort to salvage some form of inherent goal and purpose in i a: 18 Natura History 4/91 The turtle dove pattern (all checkers), from Whitman's monograph win’s new world. In this canard, support- ers of orthogenesis abandoned rationality itself to embrace for their explanation of life a woolly mysticism of “vital forces” and “inherent directions’”—the very con- cepts that science had struggled to discard in field after field, from cosmology to physics to chemistry. Whitman has been viewed as a particularly sad example of this slippage and surrender, for he had been such a committed mechanist in his earlier embryological work. This hurtful charge is not only wrong but entirely backward. Whitman and nearly all other prominent supporters of orthogenesis maintained as firm a com- mitment to mechanical causation (some today might argue too firm), and as strong an aversion to mystical or spiritual direc- tion, as any contemporary in this late nine- teenth century age of industrial order. In the opening paragraph of his 1919 mono- graph on pigeons, Whitman wrote: His [Darwin’s] triumph has won for us a common height from which we see the whole world of living beings as well as all inorganic nature; phenomena of every order we now regard as expressions of natural causes. The supernatural has no longer a standing in science; it has vanished like a dream, and the halls consecrated to its thralldom of the intellect are becoming ra- diant with a more cheerful faith. In fact, Whitman’s orthogenesis arose _ from his mechanical perspective, not in opposition to his former life’s work. The orthogenetic trend was not a mystical im- pulse from outside but a mechanistic drive from within, based upon admittedly un- known laws of genetics and embryology. His work on cell lineages had mapped the fate of earliest cells in the embryo and had indicated that the source of eventual or- gans could be specified even in the tiny and formless clump of initial cells. If em- bryos grew so predictably, why should evolutionary change be devoid of similar order? “I venture to assert,” Whitman wrote, that variation is sometimes orderly and at other times rather disorderly, and that the one is just as free from teleology as the other. ... If a designer sets limits to varia- tion in order to reach a definite end, the direction of events is teleological; but if organization and the laws of development exclude some lines of variation and favor others, there is certainly nothing supernatu- ral in this. 2. Whitman's evidence. Modern detrac- tors who misconstrue orthogenesis as old- fashioned teleology often assume that its supporters could only have been working on hope and the flimsiest of supposed evi- dence. But Whitman spent decades gath- ering reams of fascinating data (not all properly interpreted in our view, but still full of interest). He marshaled three major sources of evidence to support his orthoge- netic theory: breeding, comparative anat- omy, and ontogeny (the growth of individ- ual birds). In breeding, he found that he could develop a two-barred race from checkered parents by selecting birds with the weak- est checkers in each generation. But he could never produce checkered birds from two-barred progenitors. In comparative anatomy, he argued that species judged more ancestral on other criteria grew plumages of early stages in the orthoge- netic series. In ontogeny, he found that juvenile plumage exhibited earlier stages than adult feathers (a juvenile bird might molt its checkered feathers and then grow a two-barred adult plumage). Most nine- teenth-century biologists believed that “ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny’—a mouthful meaning that individuals, in their embryology and growth, tend to pass through stages representing adult forms of their ancestry. Juvenile plumage would therefore represent an ancestral condition. The law of recapitulation is wrong (see my book Ontogeny and Phylogeny), but you can’t blame Whitman for accepting the consensus of his time. 3. Channels versus one-way Streets. destroyed? Learn the answers in THE SCIENCE SHOW, an award-winning new series on videocassette. 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For quantity orders (100+), call Ernest Gerard, our Wholesale/Premium Manager at (415) 543-6570 or write him at the address below. since 1967 aver ills 131 Townsend Street, San Francisco, CA 94107 mm Experience Africa with the @ KENYA FAMILY SAFARI July 21-August 3, 1991 with a TANZANIA OPTION AUGUSE 3 mlIo] @ AFRICA’S LAST FRONTIER: Zambia, Zimbabwe and Botswana September 12-28, 1991 @® THE GREAT MIGRATION IN TANZANIA with an option to see Gorillas January, 1992 @® CLASSIC EAST AFRICA SAFARI: Kenya and Tanzania February, 1992 a UJ n a | AWA hs een A ol ed is Toll-free: (800) 462-8687 or (212) 769-5700 20 Narturat History 4/91 Whitman viewed his series of orthogenetic stages as a forced pathway—a one-way street with pigeons as the cars. He was clearly wrong in this, and two major errors invalidate his form of orthogenesis. First, the cars can go in either direction: Whit- man’s series may carve a road into a com- plex landscape, but the traffic flows both ways. Pigeons can either gain or lose color. Second, I doubt that either the checkered or two-barred condition represents a prim- itive state for domestic pigeons. The an- cestor of domestic races was a population, not an individual, and populations are variable. I suspect that the parental popu- lation included both checkered and two- barred birds within a spectrum of varia- tion and that the spectrum represents the ancestral condition. But think about Whitman’s vision in a slightly modified form and we have an idea that is not only valid but also full of potential insight in correcting a major mis- conception and teaching a fundamental truth about evolution. Think of this one- way street as a channel instead—a fa- vored pathway of evolutionary variation set by the inherited genetic and develop- mental programs of organisms. Evolution does not move in predictable and preformed directions; organisms are not balls on the top of inclined planes. The inherited constitution of organisms surely sets limits of all kinds upon possibilities for variation and just as surely channels change along certain pathways. If natural selection controlled evolution entirely, then no such limits and pathways would exist, and organisms would be like billiard balls, fully capable of moving in any direction and subject to any change in position induced by the pool cue of natural selection. But, to borrow an old metaphor from Darwin’s brilliant cousin Francis Galton, suppose that organisms are poly- hedrons rather than billiard balls, and that they can only move by flipping from one side (on which they now rest) to an adja- cent facet. They may need a push from natural selection to move at all, but the direction of change is largely set by inter- nal limitations and possibilities. If inher- ited genetic and developmental programs build the facets of Galton’s polyhedron, then strong internal constraints upon evo- lutionary change must exist, and Whit- man’s insight is correct, so long as we convert his one-way streets into chan- nels—that is, strong biases in the direction of variation available for evolutionary change. Moreover, Whitman probably identified the most important internal channel of all—the pathway of ontogeny, or the growth of individuals. Evolutionary change works most easily with a direction already established in growth—lengthen- ing a bit here, cutting out a stage or two there, changing the relative timing of development among organs and parts. The greatest vernacular misconception of evolution views the process as an inex- orable machine, working to produce opti- mal adaptations as best solutions to prob- lems posed by local environments and unconstrained by the whims and past his- tories of organisms. For example, I have monitored the “Ask the Boston Globe” science query column for years and have never known it to answer an evolutionary question in any but an adaptationist way. One correspondent asked, “Why do we have two breasts?” and the paper an- swered by citing a theory that the “right” number of breasts (for optimal adapta- tion) is one more than the usual number of offspring, thus providing a margin of safety, but not so large a margin as to become a burden. Since human females almost always have but a single child, two is the right number of breasts by this argu- ment rooted in natural selection. I couldn’t help but laugh when I read this conclusion. I do grasp the logic, but surely the primary channel of our anatomical design—bilateral symmetry—has some- thing to do with the solution. Most exter- nalities come in twos on our bodies—eyes, nostrils, ears, arms, legs, and so on—and the reason cannot be singleton births. Isn’t this prior channel of architecture more likely to be the primary reason for two breasts? If the adaptationist vision were true, we might gain the comfort of seeing our- selves, and all other creatures, as quintessentially “right,” at least for our local environments of natural selection. But evolution is the science of history and its influence. We come to our local envi- ronments with the baggage of eons; we are not machines newly constructed for our current realities. These historical bag- gages are expressed as the genetic and developmental channels that led Whit- man too far, but that, properly interpreted as strong biases in variation rather than one-way streets of change, would give us a much richer view of evolution as a subtle balance between constraints of history and reshapings by natural selection. The power of the channels is a key to understanding our bodies and our minds; we will never grasp the evolutionary con- tribution to our nature if we persist in the naive view that natural selection builds best solutions. We can accept the idea more readily for our bodies; hernias and lower back pain are the price we pay for walking upright with bodies evolved for quadrupedal life and not optimally rede- signed. But how much of the quirkiness and limitations of our modes of thinking might also record a structure evolved dur- ing eons for other uses and only recently developing the varied phenomena of higher consciousness, and its primary tool of expression in language? Why are we so bad at so many mental operations? Why do we seem so singularly unable to grasp probability? Why do we classify by the painfully inadequate technique of dichot- omy? Why can we not even conceive of infinity and eternity? Is the limit of cur- rent cosmological thinking a defect of data or a property of mind that gives us no access to more fruitful kinds of answers? I do not mean this list as a statement of despair about our mental midgetry. To recognize a potential limit is to think about tools of possible transcendence. Freedom, as Spinoza said, is the recogni- tion of necessity. Let us return once again to the proper metaphor of channels and remember the finest statement in litera- ture about emerging from ruts: “There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune.” Stephen Jay Gould teaches biology, geol- ogy, and the history of science at Harvard University. Zeiss 7 X 42 binoculars are specially designed to solve one of birding’s most common problems: locating birds obscured by dense foliage. 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Salvian was complaining of the tax burden imposed on conquered territory by the Roman Empire, but the same senti- ments might have been expressed by New World peoples as they were incorporated into the expanding Spanish empire. In a large part of the New World, most notably in regions ruled by the Aztec and Inca empires, people probably grumbled about taxes long before the arrival of the Euro- peans. From the smallest agrarian chief- dom to empires spanning continents, gov- ernments throughout history have lived off the surplus produced by the populace, and they have engineered economies to Spaniards under Balboa (center) quarrel over the gold objects bestowed on them by Panciaco, the chief who showed them the way to the Pacific Ocean. In the background of this late sixteenth century illustration by Flemish engraver Theodore de Bry, the Europeans reward Panciaco with baptism. 22 Narturat History 4/91 insure that such a surplus was produced. When they conquered the most com- plex societies of the New World, the Span- iards substituted their own systems of tax- ation for those already in place. How, we may wonder, did the conquistadors come to the conclusion that New World people owed them anything? Montezuma might have pondered this as he sat under house arrest in the Spaniards’ quarters in Tenochtitlan. For most early Spanish con- querors, however, it was a given. Colum- bus took it for granted and had a tribute system in place on Hispaniola by 1494: All the natives between the ages of fourteen and seventy years bound themselves to pay him tribute in the products of the country at so much per head, promising to fulfill their engagement. Some of the conditions of this agreement were as follows: the mountain- eers of Cibao were to bring to the town every three months a specified measure filled with gold. They reckon by the moon and call the months moons. The islanders who cultivated the lands which spontane- ously produced spices and cotton, were pledged to pay a fixed sum per head [De Orbe Novo, by Peter Martyr D’Anghera. Burt Franklin, 1912]. Perhaps for sixteenth-century Europe- ans (as in twentieth-century conventional wisdom) taxes were one of the two ines- capable things. Or perhaps Spain, in de- manding tribute from conquered peoples, took Rome as its model. Gaul and Britain and Spain itself—or the peoples and lands that then constituted Spain—had paid tribute to Rome a thousand years before Columbus sailed. Within the Roman system, as in almost all tax systems, the state’s objective was to extract the greatest amount of money, goods, and services for the least cost. Dur- ing the period of the Roman Republic, the imposition of tribute on conquered territo- ries was an important motivation for the conquests in the first place. 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AMNH Members pay just $18.95 for a full year subscription of 9 issues. 24 NarurAt History 4/91 to subjugate the provinces completely and hold them to the letter of tribute demands was probably impossible and certainly not expedient. Conquered territories at- tempted to minimize their tribute burden without attracting the attention of the im- perial army. The Romans, too, were eager to preserve the peace. For example, Julius Caesar’s strategy for extracting tribute from the province of Gaul depended on convincing local lead- ers that producing tax revenues was in their interest. In Caesar’s words (written in the third person): During the winter which he spent in Belgic Gaul Caesar made it his single aim to keep the tribes loyal, and to see that none had any pretext for revolt or any hope of profit- ing by it. The last thing he wanted was to have to fight a campaign immediately be- fore his departure; for it would mean leav- ing Gaul in a state of rebellion when the time came to withdraw his army, and all the tribes would be only too willing to take up arms when they could do so without imme- diate risk. So he made their condition of subjection more tolerable by addressing the tribal governments in complimentary terms, refraining from the imposition of any fresh [tax] burdens, and bestowing rich presents upon the principal citizens. By these means it was easy to induce a people exhausted by so many defeats to live at peace [The Conquest of Gaul, Penguin Books, Ltd., 1951]. Spanish tacticians also knew that much was to be gained by co-opting the local rulers. They coerced and courted them into becoming agents of the empire who would collect tribute and keep the peace. Spain’s treatment of its New World terri- tories was similar in other respects to Rome’s relationship to its provinces. To generate income, Spain placed the great- est effort in areas of greatest return (like the gold- and silver-mining regions), just as Rome exploited Britain’s mineral wealth. Spain pensioned off its soldiers with grants of New World lands and the labor of conquered people, just as Rome granted parcels of conquered land to retir- ing soldiers to repay them cheaply and to further subdue the provinces. And like Rome, Spain kept the cost of having an army within bounds by using the threat of force more often than force itself. As did Rome and Spain, the Inca em- pire in the Andes undertook its conquests with the smallest standing army possible. But their might was still adequate to sub- jugate unwilling populations whose tradi- tional leadership had nothing to gain and everything to lose by imperial conquest. And like the Romans, the Inca relied on the cooperation of local elites to fill the imperial coffers. The Inca policy of gentle persuasion involved taking provincial hostages to the Inca capital, Cuzco, to live in great style. These guests were steeped in the city’s language and culture. Undoubtedly, it would have been impressed on them that the treatment they received depended en- tirely upon their participation in extract- ing tribute from their homelands. Garci- laso de la Vega, whose mother was a member of the Inca elite and whose father was a Spanish nobleman, described the strategy of the Inca emperor: They also carried off the leading chief and all his children to Cuzco, where they were treated with kindness and favor so that by frequenting the court they would learn not only its laws, customs, and correct speech, but also the rites, ceremonies, and supersti- tions of the Incas. This done, the [chief] was restored to his former dignity and au- thority, and the Inca, as king, ordered the vassals to serve and obey him as their natu- ral lord. The Inca bestowed... gifts on newly conquered Indians, so that however brutish and barbarous they had been they were subdued by affection and attached to his service by a bond so strong that no province ever dreamed of rebelling. And in order to remove all occasion for complaint and to prevent dissatisfaction from leading to re- bellion, he confirmed and promulgated anew all the former laws, liberties, and stat- utes so that they might be more esteemed and respected, and he never changed a word of them unless they were contrary to the idolatry and laws of his empire [Royal Commentaries of the Incas, translated by Harold Livermore, University of Texas Press, 1966]. The Aztec empire, centered in the capi- tal city Tenochtitlan, also resembled re- publican Rome in its treatment of periph- eral territories. In his recent book Trade, Tribute, and Transportation (University of Oklahoma Press), historical anthropol- ogist Ross Hassig emphasized three cor- respondences in his analysis of the Aztec empire before and during the Spanish conquest: While the similarities between the Romans and the Aztecs can be overstated, they did share certain characteristics: (1) expansion of political dominance without direct terri- torial control, (2) a focus on the internal security of the empire by exercising influ- ence on a limited range of activities within the client states, and (3) the achievement of such influence by generally retaining rather than replacing local officials. When the Inca and Aztec empires fell to Spain, the conquerors seemed in a good position to replace the top strata of New World bureaucratic structures, leaving lower strata intact to funnel tribute up- ward. But substituting tribute to Spain for tribute to Cuzco or Tenochtitlan was a disaster for several reasons. 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Name: Address: City: State: Zip: Re COM eI Ca (4 ae SO ace (4 See eer Tourism Saskatchewan, 1919 Saskatchewan Drive, ri ay, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada S4P 3V7 NH91 COA a La NVA conquest brought massive loss of life through the introduction of Old World diseases. The indigenous economies were completely disrupted by epidemics that in many areas killed 70 to 90 percent of the population in less than a century, provid- ing a grimly literal example of a shrinking tax base. In the New World, death and taxes were more closely linked than in the proverbial sense. Second, the expanding European em- pire did not merely replace the top tier of the indigenous tribute system; it short- circuited the entire structure. Under the Aztec system, for example, tribute flowed through a pyramidal series of institutions, from local governments to regional cen- ters to provincial capitals to Tenochtitlan. With the imposition of Spanish control, these intermediate stops were bypassed; tribute went from local regions directly to Mexico City and from there to Spain. Regional centers and administrative sys- tems withered and disappeared, undercut- ting the native political order. Finally, European governments and en- trepreneurs were interested in forms of wealth that were tangible and transport- able. Taxes in the form of labor—such as the Inca mita system, which supplied a work force for state projects—were less appealing. Thus, local groups that had previously met their obligations by work- ing for the state from time to time were forced to pay tribute in goods. As bad as this was, the situation was still worse for those New World people who were unaccustomed to life within the sphere of tribute-demanding empires. For them, being forced to pay taxes in the form of money or goods or labor was an impossible order: little or no surplus was generated by their subsistence economies, and no tribute-collecting mechanisms were in place. As a result, most of these peoples were pushed from their lands or trampled in the course of European ex- pansion. Today, of course, we enjoy the advan- tage of governing ourselves, instead of paying tribute to some foreign imperial power. And yet, as Thomas Paine ob- served in Common Sense, Government even in the best state is but a necessary evil; in its worst state an intoler- able one; for when we suffer, or are exposed to the same miseries by a government, which we might expect in a country without government, our calamity is heightened by reflecting that we furnish the means by which we suffer. Samuel M. Wilson is an assistant profes- sor of anthropology at the University of Texas, Austin. PROFESSIONAL QUALITY WEATHER STATION NOW AFFORDABLE ENOUGH FOR HOME USE! 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Since 1908 Send to: STAN DARD SHOES 48 Main Street, Bangor, Maine 04401 25 — First Dates The Maya calendar and writing system were not the only ones in Mesoamerica—or even the earliest by Joyce Marcus At the time of the Spanish conquest, a number of peoples—the Aztec, Zapotec, Mixtec, Zoque, Maya, and others—occu- pied the region extending from central Mexico to as far east as Honduras and El Salvador. Although they spoke diverse languages and had distinct customs, they all shared what anthropologists consider a similar, Mesoamerican culture. While the Maya constructed monumental cities in the tropical lowlands of the Yucatan Pen- insula, some of their best-known accom- plishments had their origins among earlier societies located to the west of their home- land. Among these are the related phe- nomena of hieroglyphic writing and calen- drical systems. In Mesoamerica, writing first emerged among chiefdoms, societies that had he- reditary differences in rank—based on the degree of kinship to the chief—but that lacked the division into exclusive upper and lower classes typical of ancient states, or civilizations. Between 3,000 and 2,500 years ago, a network of chiefdoms ran from the Valley of Mexico south through the present states of Morelos, Veracruz, Oaxaca, and Chiapas to the Pacific coast of Guatemala and El Salvador. The Maya who occupied the southern lowlands of the Yucatan Peninsula may have been rela- tively late participants in this network. A wide range of materials and arti- facts—including magnetite, jade, marine shells, obsidian, and pottery—circulated among the chiefdoms, probably as a result of trading and the ritual exchange of gifts on the part of high-ranking families. This interaction fostered a social milieu in which ideas traveled rapidly. For exam- ple, among the widely distributed items were pottery vessels with stylized motifs, 4 Archeological Sites Tres Zapotes \ 200 Miles 1. I rh 3 TWB; a , f pc a a oy ys : NI pA Jes, ry Ped J i <— : ¥ zo : lone A Bar $ (he, e ? ; y WelCot [sf = «™N. Limit of Maya Culture Area Yucatan Peninsula _ f YUCATAN NORTHERN. / ? *OWLANDS/, A v ‘QUINTANA, ff ' ROO. tt f ae a Ag j = -_—- Joe LeMonnier 26 Narturat History 4/91 such as lightning, that appear to have been linked to descent groups. The exchange of objects also reinforced political connec- tions between chiefs, who formed alli- ances through intermarriage and cooper- ated in raiding rival chiefdoms. A chief’s authority was sanctioned by his supposed links to supernatural forces, This is the third in a series of articles that explore recent discoveries and interpretations concerning the rise and fall of ancient Maya civilization. rather than backed by real political power based on laws and arms. Nevertheless, a great deal of labor was coordinated for communal efforts, notably in constructing the massive pyramidal bases for temples. In Mesoamerica, the first carved stone monuments with hieroglyphs appeared in this context. They were erected, not in the Maya region, but in Oaxaca (inhabited by Zapotec-speaking people) and in southern Veracruz and western Chiapas (inhabited by Zoque-speaking people). Incidentally, the ancient Olmec of Veracruz and Ta- basco, famed for their jade carvings and colossal basalt human heads—and once regarded as the “mother culture” of Mesoamerica—were already in their de- cline by the time writing came to the fore. Some of the early hieroglyphic monu- ments made use of a 260-day calendar, which was common to all Mesoamerican groups and probably originated long be- fore it was first recorded in stone. This calendar was produced by combining twenty day names with the numbers 1 through 13. A counting system based on twenty (perhaps originally derived from the twenty digits of the hands and feet) was used by all Mesoamerican Indians, while the day names, based on animals and natural phenomena, varied somewhat from group to group. Thirteen, far from being unlucky, was an auspicious and sa- cred number. The combination of a given number and day name formed a unit that could not recur until 260 days (20 X 13) had elapsed. The calendar as a whole served ritual purposes, such as scheduling events for favorable days or divining the destiny of a child born on a certain day. So important was this 260-day calendar that among peoples such as the Zapotec, Mixtec, and Aztec, children were often named for the day of their birth, resulting in such names as 2 Wind, 3 Crocodile, 5 Flower, 6 Monkey, and 8 Deer. To give the day name, a hieroglyphic sign was used; to give the number, most groups (including the Zapotec and Maya) used a dot for the number 1 and a bar for the number 5. Thus, “8 Deer” would be writ- ten with one bar, three dots, and a picture of a deer’s head. Among the Maya, the number was placed to the left or above the day name. Because calendrical glyphs were so common in Mesoamerican inscriptions— and were the first signs deciphered— scholars such as Sylvanus G. Morley and J. Eric S. Thompson once assumed that many pre-Columbian monuments re- corded only calendrical information and that the Maya “worshiped time.” But the Zapotec, Maya, Aztec, and others used the calendar to place both real and mythi- cal events in time. Very early on, Meso- american chiefdoms depicted members of the elite and captives taken in combat, inserting the calendrical names of the per- sons portrayed. Subsequent Mesoamerican writing sys- tems continued to record the taking of rival lords and other captives and to honor victors in battle. In later states, which were larger and more socially stratified than chiefdoms, the themes of territorial control and personal aggrandizement were added. With the emergence of a dis- THIS SUMMER REGENCY HAS THO "COOL? WAYS T0 CRUISE FRENCH CANADA — Ye a; 1 de a EXPLORE FASCINATING, Poe Harbor HISTORIC PORTS BETWEEN movneewn | — NEWYORK AND MONTREAL, aN SAVE UP TO $300! SAIL BETWEEN ANCHORAGE & adel saa, VANCOUVER, ALONG THE recceimd exesiot@'e” | SPECTACULAR CLACIER ROUTE SAVE UP T0 $500! REGENT SEA This summer, thanks to our unique itineraries and substantial early booking discounts, Regency makes cruising to Alaska or to French Canada/New England more fun and affordable than ever! Save up to $500 per cabin by booking 90 days prior to departure for Alaska or save up to $300 per cabin by booking 60 days prior to departure for French Canada. 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This carved stone is between 2,600 and 2,500 years old (its age can be estimated because it lies beneath a dated floor and is associated with a certain type of pottery). It shows what appears to be a naked sacrificial vic- tim sprawled in an awkward position, eyes closed, mouth open, with a stream of blood flowing from his open chest follow- ing removal of his heart. (These pictorial conventions appeared at a later date in Maya monuments.) Between the feet of the figure is inscribed the Zapotec day sign for “earthquake,” placed above an ornate dot. This inscription, 1 Earth- quake, was probably the victim’s calendri- cal name. As a result of competition for land, trib- ute, and water, rival settlements engaged in raiding, and prisoners so taken were commonly sacrificed to insure supernatu- ral favors. This may have been the fate of 1 Earthquake. His name was proclaimed for all to appreciate, perhaps simply be- cause he was a chief or other important person, perhaps also to identify the town that had been raided. This custom pre- vailed in later times among the Maya and other groups, but whether the victims were members of the same ethnic group as the captors or belonged to a different one is rarely easy to determine. 28 Narturat History 4/91 Monument 3 was laid flat on a bed of slabs at the entrance to a forty-foot-long corridor between two large public build- ings, where anyone passing through would tread on the carved representation of the sacrificed captive. The image of a con- queror stepping on the body of a captive was another convention later borrowed by the Maya, who carved stone prisoner gal- leries and impressive monumental dis- plays of political propaganda. The Maya depicted prisoners as the pedestals on which rulers stood; they also carved the risers and treads of stone staircases with images of bound prisoners lying full- length, which the ruler would ascend on the way to a palace or temple. Perhaps a century after Monument 3 was carved, one of the earliest public buildings in the Zapotec city of Monte Alban was completed. It featured a gal- lery of more than 300 carved representa- tions of naked captives. At this time, the first pure texts appeared, containing both calendrical and noncalendrical glyphs without any pictorial scenes. Signifi- cantly, some inscriptions, such as that on Stela 15 at Monte Alban, include calen- drical signs (recognizable by their style and format) with numbers between 14 and 18. The great Mexican scholar Al- fonso Caso interpreted these signs as the first evidence of a Mesoamerican 365-day calendar. Such a calendar, well-known from later sites, was divided into eighteen “months” of twenty days and a final inter- val of five days. Caso argued that the calendar signs with numbers greater than 13 must have been month signs (many later examples follow this method of nam- ing the months). These early Zapotec monuments sug- gest that the 260-day calendar may have been the first used in Mesoamerica, and that the 260-day and 365-day calendars were used side by side at least 2,400 years ago. Subsequently, the two sequences were used in interlocking combination to produce a cycle of dates that did not re- peat for fifty-two years. This system set the stage for a still more comprehensive method of reckoning time, the so-called Long Count calendar. This calendar, for which the later Maya are famous, first appeared in a series of monuments in a region some linguists have assigned to Zoque-speaking Indians. Somewhere in southern Mexico prior to 36 B.c., people had begun to use multiples of a 360-day “year” to produce a very accurate calendar for measuring long in- tervals of time. The Maya version of that calendar used as its starting point a date corresponding to August 13, 3114 B.c., of the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Some scholars have speculated that this base date was of mythological significance, cal- culated to coincide with the creation of the present world. From that starting point, the Indians tabulated the elapsed time in order to place events in an unambiguous temporal context. Long Count dates were recorded with a string of numbers whose value depended on their position in the string (as in the Western system of ones, tens, hundreds, and so on). This efficient notation in- cluded a “completion” symbol to be used, when needed, as a place holder (accord- ingly, the Indians of southern Mexico are credited with independently inventing the concept of zero). Using this position-value notation (top to bottom or left to right in the case of Maya monuments), five differ- ent orders of time were recorded, in de- scending size. They began with the largest unit, a cycle of four hundred 360-day years (144,000 days). The next unit con- sisted of twenty 360-day years (7,200 days). The third unit was the eighteen- month year (360 days). Then came a month of 20 days, followed by the smallest unit, the individual day. Stone monuments erected at four dif- ferent sites—Chiapa de Corzo, Tres Zapotes, El Batil, and Abaj Takalik—dis- play dates that fall into the period that archeologists call Cycle 7. These are dates that lead off with seven of the 400-year units. Together, the four dates span 52 years, from 36 B.c. to A.D. 16. For exam- ple, Stela C from Tres Zapotes, Veracruz, records the Long Count of 7.16.6.16.18, using dots as 1 and bars as 5. In other words, the date is expressed as 7 cycles of 144,000 days, 16 units of 7,200 days, 6 years of 360 days, 16 months of 20 days, Stela C from Tres Zapotes Museo Nacional de Antropologia, Mexico and 18 additional days. If we assume that the starting date was August 13, 3114 B.c. (as it was for the Maya), this corresponds to September 3, 32 B.c., in the Western calendar. We do not know what important event was commemorated by the carving, since the rest of the text is heavily eroded. None of these early sites lies within the area generally assigned to the Classic Maya. One falls in western Chiapas, one in southern Veracruz, and two on the Pa- cific coast piedmont of Guatemala. The first securely dated monument known from the Maya lowlands—the area where Maya civilization reached its peak—falls in Cycle 8. This monument is Stela 29 from Tikal, in the tropical rain forest of northern Guatemala. Its Long Count date of 8.12.14.8.15 corresponds to July 6, 292, in the Western calendar. Another important date from about this time is found on a jade artifact called the Leyden Plaque, believed to have been carved at Tikal even though it was found more than 120 miles away. Its front de- picts a noble, probably an early Tikal tuler, with a captive sprawled at his feet. On the back of the plaque is a Long Count date of 8.14.3.1.12, which corresponds to September 15, 320. What makes the Ley- den Plaque so important is that it includes Justin Kerr The Leyden Plaque, presumed to be from Tikal a verb that means “was seated” (in office), followed by the name of a ruler, his titles, and an “emblem glyph,” representing the city or possibly the royal dynasty of Tikal. The plaque thus commemorated the day on which this ruler took office. Although the Maya knew of and used the 260-day ritual calendar, they appar- ently did not draw their names from it, as did their neighbors to the west and north. Most Maya rulers had names composed of other signs, including pictograms (such as animal heads, skulls, limbs, tails, weapons, or shields), ideograms (arbitrary conven- tions for such things as sky, earth, sun, or darkness), and phonograms, which tran- scribed their names phonetically. In the case of the Leyden Plaque, the Maya rul- er’s name features a bird’s head with signs appended to the left and above that serve as modifiers. Although the Maya were not the first Mesoamericans to use writing and calen- dars, through their contributions, hiero- glyphic writing assumed its maximum versatility, complexity, and correspon- dence to a spoken language. We have yet to determine whether Mesoamerican writ- ing had multiple origins or a single origin followed by rapid regional diversification. There are many more early texts out there still to be discovered. The long-neglected Zoque region of southern Veracruz and western Chiapas, which lies between the better-known Olmec, Zapotec, and Maya homelands, might provide the missing transitional stages between the earliest in- scriptions and those of the Maya. O Why it takes legwork to flatten your stomach. You can’t reduce stomach fat by exercising abdominal muscles alone. Research has shown that exercises that work only the abdominal region are not effective. They simply don’t involve enough muscle mass to burn the calories necessary to trim fat. Instead of flattening, they merely strengthen underlying muscles, providing no reduction in girth, fatfolds, or total body fat percentage. The exclusive NordicTrack® total-body aerobic exerciser is the most effective way to flatten your stomach. The total-body motion involves all major body muscles. Which means you burn more body fat in less time than with any other in-home exercise machine. 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Paintings by Peter Schouten The Dinosaurs of Winter Neither cold nor dark of night stopped the hypsilophodonts by Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas H. Rich The next to the last day of a long (and at times tiresome) 1987 field season got un- der way late when our team of excavators and rock bashers finally gathered at the site at about 9:00 a.m. No one was in much of a hurry, for after nearly two months of the same grueling work, you can’t push yourself too hard too early, or you won’t last past noon. Digging dinosaurs can be quite easy and also a great deal of fun if the bones happen to be abundant, well preserved, and exposed in soft sediments, such as clays or sands. Here at Dinosaur Cove, and at all the other localities pro- ducing dinosaurs along the southern coast of Victoria, Australia, fossils are not so easily won. Although the bones are exqui- sitely preserved, they are embedded in hard sandstones, siltstones, and claystones that can only be excavated using proper mining tools—jackhammers, big drills, and explosives. And for all our blasting and drilling, this field season had been a . disappointment. Not many fossil speci- mens had turned up, and we were about to call it quits at this locality. This season, the crew—many of them dedicated amateurs and volunteers—had dug two parallel tunnels into a cliff follow- ing an ancient stream channel in which bones had accumulated more than 100 million years ago. Subsequently, we de- cided to link the two tunnels together by a cross tunnel, a most fortuitous decision, for only in this third tunnel was much of consequence ultimately found. After blasting and drilling away the overlying rock, the crew gently took up the fossil- bearing layer from the floor of the “dino- saur mine,” handling even the sharpest and heaviest rocks like newborns. On this penultimate day, a crew mem- ber examining a recently split rock for a second time spotted a most unusual speci- men in the gray light of the tunnel. Not surprisingly, it had been overlooked at first; the tunnels were not only dark but also muddy and cramped, and the speci- men itself was dark brown against the encasing dark gray rock. The find proved to be the top of a fossilized skull of a dinosaur that could have been no larger than a chicken. A fresh break suggested that there was more to the specimen than we had found. A frantic effort soon led to the recovery of the missing counterpart, a fragment of the skull roof that during ex- cavation had been peeled off like an or- ange rind. The imprint of the top of the brain—a large brain for a dinosaur—was clearly visible. What was more, the optic lobes, those parts of the brain dedicated to sight, were huge. Later we learned that in no other dinosaur of its kind—and in few dinosaurs of any kind—were the optic lobes prominent enough to have made a distinct impression on the skull roof. That day we were in luck three times: We found the specimen in the third tunnel after the first two had yielded almost noth- ing. We recovered all of what had been preserved of the skull. And as we dug out the tunnel, a drill hole with a diameter about the same size as the skull had missed the fossil by a mere four inches. The next day, we were lucky a fourth time, for less than three feet from the skull fragments, we found the remnant of a leg and a significant part of a backbone and pelvis. Our first impression was that these bones were just the right size for our dino- saur, and subsequent lab work and fossil comparisons have largely borne this out. This brainy, large-eyed dinosaur, which lived about 106 million years ago, turned out to be a new species of hypsilopho- dont, a small, swift, bipedal plant- and insect-eater. We eventually dubbed it Le- aellynasaura amicagraphica. One would imagine that finding such a specimen after two months of nearly fruit- less effort would release a joyous pande- monium among the crew. However, it was quite unlike that. After searching so long and so hard, we were emotionally numb, and only gradually did we realize that we had uncovered an important clue to life in this area about 106 million years ago. Australia’s fossil record of dinosaurs, and terrestrial vertebrate life in general, from about 220 to 65 million years ago, is almost nonexistent. The first dinosaur bone from the Victorian coast was discov- ered by a geologist about 1900. Eighty years passed before another dinosaur bone surfaced. The emergent mammalian fauna of Australia of this time is repre- sented by just two jaw fragments. Numer- ous trackways and the rarer fossil bones support the notion that dinosaurs were abundant and dominant in Australia, but the evidence available until now has been exceedingly sparse, affording us merely a glimpse of life at that time. Ever since the 1960s, when we were university students working at the American Museum of Nat- ural History in New York, we had wanted to find some pieces that would fill in this Joe LeMonnier AUSTRALIA peek 70° Study Area.e ANTARCTICA One hundred and six million years ago, Dinosaur Cove lay close to the South Pole. The land masses of what are now Australia and Antarctica were not yet separated by the Southern Ocean, and shallow inland seas covered portions of Australia. 33 part of the Australian puzzle, to broaden the glimpse to a gaze. Dinosaur Cove is situated in one of the prime places in southern Australia for re- covering fossil bones. Along the coast, rocky outcrops in the Strzelecki and Ot- way ranges, southeast and southwest of Melbourne, have escaped deep weather- ing and the fossils they bear have not been subjected to the chemical erosion typical on much of the continent. The entire area of these coastal, dinosaur-bearing rocks in Victoria is a single square mile. The pounding action of the waves tears away at these rocks, exposing, but not dissolv- ing, dinosaur bones. Only about 300 feet inland, the same kinds of rocks are so deeply weathered as to make hunting for fossil bones a futile exercise. Today, from Dinosaur Cove the view to the north is of the low Otway range and to the south, the open expanse of the South- ern Ocean. More than 1,800 miles away lies Antarctica. When the dinosaurs were living here, however, the scene would have been quite different. The Southern Ocean did not exist. Rather, the area was the floor of a rift valley. Australia and Antarc- tica, long fused as part of the great south- ern continent of Gondwana, were just be- ginning to separate from each other. At that time, one could have walked to Ant- arctica from the spot that is now Dinosaur Cove. The floor of the rift valley was al- most flat, with perhaps a distant view of the Australian valley wall on the far north- ern horizon. One hundred and six million years ago, in the early Cretaceous, southeastern Aus- tralia lay well within the Antarctic Circle of the day, perhaps as far as 80° south latitude. From the fossils of plants and invertebrates collected at Dinosaur Cove and other contemporaneous Victorian sites, we know that the climate then, while not as frigid as the polar regions today, was far from equable. Fossilized trees con- tain prominent rings, reflecting marked seasonal shifts. Oxygen isotope ratios de- termined for the rocks at Dinosaur Cove suggest that the mean annual temperature in southeastern Australia in the early Cre- taceous was not higher than 41° F and perhaps as low as 21°F Summer tem- 34 Narurat History 4/91 The well-preserved fossil skull of a chicken-sized, herbivorous dinosaur, Leaellynasaura amicagraphica, left, retains the impression of a large brain (at bottom) with huge optic lobes. Evidence of ancient bird life in southern Australia comes from fossil feathers. Below: One of the feathers found in fossil beds at Koonwarrais less than an inch long. Photographs by Steven Morton and Frank Coffa aN peratures might have been quite warm, but during the long winter nights the air must have been well below freezing. Stud- ies of ancient river valley sediments in the area point to periodic flooding, perhaps the result of runoff of seasonal meltwater from snowfields at higher elevations. (A decade ago, polar dinosaurs were unrec- ognized in either hemisphere, except for some footprints from Spitsbergen. Since then, a massive concentration of fossil bones, primarily those of duck-billed dino- saurs, has come to light on the Colville River on the North Slope of Alaska. Addi- tional discoveries of isolated specimens in both hemispheres—including Alaska, Canada, Siberia, New Zealand, and the Antarctic Peninsula—hold promise of providing a much broader picture of high- latitude dinosaurs in years to come.) Nevertheless, Dinosaur Cove and its en- virons supported abundant life in the Me- sozoic. The new hypsilophodont fossils were among the most intriguing of a vari- ety of plant and animal remains of similar age uncovered in Victoria in the late 1970s and the 1980s. We now had a better opportunity to reconstruct the ancient po- lar environment and to try to determine how the creatures of Dinosaur Cove, par- ticularly the dinosaurs, could have coped with long, warm summer days and equally long, cold winter nights. To begin with, we placed the hypsilophodonts in context, piecing together a picture of their polar world. The work thus far on the Victorian dino- saurs and their associated flora and fauna has revealed more than 150 different spe- cies, from spiders to pterosaurs, ferns to conifers. The landscape was relatively green and lush, given its geographical lo- cation. Large, nonflowering plants, in- cluding monkey puzzle trees, ginkgoes, and podocarps, dominated the flora. Ferns abounded, with some types sharing the undergrowth with bryophytes and other low-growing vegetation, and with other kinds proliferating on the forest fringes. Lycopodium, a primitive vascular plant, and sphagnum mosses grew in more open moorlands, while quillworts, hepatics, and algae dominated the aquatic environ- ments. A few rare species represented the new tribe of flowering plants. By the time the dinosaurs became extinct about 65 million years ago, flowering plants had come to rule the terrestrial flora, but in southern Victoria more than 100 million years ago, they would have hardly been noticed in an otherwise uniformly green plant community. Modern relatives of many of these plants are found in the mountains of southeastern Australia and in Tasmania’s high country, where they are often cov- ered with snow during the winter. While they also inhabit some warmer climes, their habitat range suggests that their Me- sozoic ancestors could have coped with winter conditions at what is now Dinosaur Cove. More than eighty species of inverte- brates are also associated with the dino- saur faunas. Most come from one remark- able locality, Koonwarra, in the Strzelecki range to the southeast of Melbourne. Spi- ders, freshwater bryozoans, shellfish, and what are possibly earthworms, along with a diversity of crustaceans, have been 35 found in the ancient lake sediments pre- served at Koonwarra. Of the twelve orders of insects present, the bugs, beetles, and flies are the most varied, and many imma- ture individuals are preserved. Antarctic Australia was also home to a variety of fish, including lungfish, which today have a very restricted range in the swamps and marshes of tropical Africa and South America, as well as the rivers of northeastern Australia. Several other bony fish groups, some rather primitive when compared with most living fish, in- habited these ancient rivers and streams. Birds have left only feathers to signal their presence, but bones of amphibians, turtles, pterosaurs, and lizardlike reptiles, as well as teeth of the long-necked, Loch Ness “monster’-like plesiosaurs, have been found. Although most plesiosaurs were ocean dwellers, the Australian ones inhabited fresh water. Just as some seals and dolphins, for example the Ganges River dolphin, today sometimes invade rivers and lakes, so, too, must have some Cretaceous plesiosaurs. They were a long way from the nearest ocean. An intriguing aspect of the fossil verte- brate fauna is that it contained several forms that had long since become extinct elsewhere in the world. These included the bipedal carnivore Allosaurus and the youngest surviving labyrinthodont am- phibian, a large, semiterrestrial, carnivo- rous form. These vertebrates survived tens of millions of years beyond their time else- where. They were “living fossils” even in the early Cretaceous. Perhaps because of its polar location, Australia served as a refuge for many different kinds of animals and plants. More than half of the approximately 200 dinosaur fossils recovered are those of juveniles. Dinosaurs were not just visiting the area occasionally; they were most likely using it as a nursery, taking advan- tage of the high productivity that such a polar area sustained during the summer months, when the sun shone twenty-four hours a day. Large rivers, which eventually became choked with sediments, flowed across the early Cretaceous Victorian valley floor. Smaller, more gently flowing streams that 36 Narturat History 4/9] A variety of hypsilophodonts, including agile, large-eyed Leaellynasaura (foreground) and the larger Atlascopcosaurus (top), foraged in the relatively lush, cool-temperate rain forests of early Cretaceous age in Australia. fed into those rivers were ultimately filled with a mixture of clays and finer sands. It is in the latter that the rare fossils of verte- brates, most from diminutive creatures, are most frequently found. Nevertheless, larger dinosaurs were present, a fact es- tablished by the finds of a few isolated bones. In every case, these were the small- est bones on which it is possible to base the identification of the larger animals, and frequently, these specimens appear to have been from juveniles. Even the carniv- orous allosaurs were small in stature com- pared with specimens in North America, for example. This trend holds for the hypsilophodont dinosaurs, too; the tallest reached only the size of a human of me- dium height. The herbivorous dinosaurs were all hypsilophodonts, like Leaellynasaura amicagraphica. Elsewhere in the world, hypsilophodonts are generally a rare ele- ment in museum fossil collections, and typically only one or at best a few different kinds are known in one area and of one age. In southeastern Australia, the quan- tity of material, although small, indicates that up to five different species of this single family may have been living here, all at about the same time. Members of this family seem to have thrived at this polar latitude. Did they survive the win- ters by migrating or perhaps by hibernat- ing? Or did they remain active even dur- ing the most stressful times of the year? A look at a paleogeographic map of Australia for this period indicates that mi- gration to lower latitudes would not be a simple matter of going directly north. Be- cause of the shallow sea that covered much of northeastern Australia, to reach the Antarctic Circle (and thus some day- light every day of the year) on dry land would have required migrating to the northwest about 600 miles. Although modern caribou do migrate a comparable distance in the Northern Hemisphere, no smaller terrestrial mammals the size of Leaellynasaura do. And in any case, at the Antarctic Circle on the shortest days of the year, the sun will shine only briefly on the southern horizon at noon. Although reptiles do live north of the Arctic Circle today, they accomplish this by burrowing into the mud and hibernat- ing. Even in temperate climates, modern reptiles cease to be active when the daily average temperature approaches freezing. The clue to the hypsilophodonts’ winter habits, and the answer to the hibernation question, may lie in these dinosaurs’ large brains. Why would L. amicagraphica have de- veloped particularly prominent optic lobes on its brain, while members of its family from other continents did not? Of all other dinosaurs, only the “brainiest” ones, the small carnivores such as the North Ameri- can Troodon, could match it. Sharper sight seems to be the most plausible an- swer. The only prominent difference be- tween this dinosaur and the other mem- bers of its family is where it lived: close to the South Pole of the day. Presumably, the enhanced eyesight would not have been needed during the polar summer, when plenty of light was available. If this unusual ability was required because of the low light levels encountered during the winter, it would imply that Leaellyna- Saura was active even during winter, when the temperatures were probably below freezing for prolonged periods. This idea, in turn, lends support to, but by no means proves, the hypothesis that some dino- saurs were warmblooded. Intensive prospecting and excavation since the late 1970s have produced re- markable assemblages of flora and fauna that are altering our views of world cli- mates 100 to 120 million years ago. Even though temperatures were, in general, globally higher, polar areas most certainly experienced low temperatures and sea- sonal fluctuations that would have been quite stressful to living things. Some dino- saurs, however, were able to cope with these conditions. Understanding just how they coped and under what conditions they lived will undoubtedly contribute to understanding why dinosaurs, as a group, disappeared at the end of the Cretaceous. Dinosaurs and other creatures that sur- vived in south polar climes 106 million years ago may also give us a better esti- mate of when, and how rapidly, the changes leading to our modern glacial cli- mate took place. O She makes it look effortless. _ Reflecting the thousands of hours she's practiced and honed her skills, until every muscle responds in unison to the command lor periection. It is this dedication, this courage to face competition boldly and without eT) compromise, that has inspired Phillips Petroleum to proudly sponsor United States Swimming since 1973. | And we'll be national sponsor for years to come. Because we believe that with every leap of grace and form, MWe oM YO e1lela ie omIE LOCO MO bm Er OME-LoRSUTIOLeR | dea uta Tenet irs Formore information on how you can help these athletes, please ae ( a Disarm Oitticaae Rie Sa 1750 East pe ae , OOo = Ee Dak ws a j ¥ Merchandise/Gifts DINOSAUR MUGS. Skeletal views of Tyrannosaurus, Stegosaurus, Triceratops, Sabre-tooth Cat. White on black ceramic 11 oz. dishwasher safe mugs. Four mug set $30. Satisfaction Guaranteed. Free brochure. Arm- chair Archaeologist, 1275 4th, #112J, Santa Rosa, CA 95404 ‘| @ OWLS" Bumper Sticker $1.00. 1991 Owl Calendar $13. Owl merchandise catalog $1.00. Owl's Nest, Box 5491NH, Fresno, CA 93755 METEORITES—RARE SPACE COLLECTIBLES. Dis- play specimens, jewelry, books. Authenticity guaran- teed. Color catalog $2. Bethany Sciences, P.O. Box 3726-N, New Haven, CT 06525 PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT, rainforests, earth while saving money! Catalog of thoughtful products, meaningful gifts $1.00. Blue Planet, Box 213-NH, Bos- ton, MA 02123 SAY “NO SMOKING” IN 36 LANGUAGES! Artistic Poster ready for framing. $7.95 p/h $1.30. Color and Design, P.O. Box 305-A, Oceanside, New York 11572 Miscellaneous OREGON EXPLORER'’S MAP, 700+ Natural/Historic/ Geologic features. Send $7.45. Exclusive Maps, Suite 369N, Eugene, OR 97401 PENFRIENDS—ENGLAND—USA. Make lasting friend- ships. Send age, interests. Free reply. Harmony, Box 82295NH, Phoenix, AZ 85071 Music EXCITING MUSIC FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. Andes, Africa, India, World Music Jazz. Write for free catalog of cassettes and compact discs. Music of the World, Dept. N, P.O. Box 3667, Chapel Hill, NC 27515- 3667 Photo/Optical aus JENA (GERMANY) BINOCULARS: Experience the Ultimate in Brilliance and Clarity! Europtik, Ltd., P.O. Box 319-NH, Dunmore, PA 18512 (717) 347-6049 BINOCULAR SALES AND SERVICE. Repairing binocu- lars since 1923. Alignment performed on our U.S. Navy collimator. Free catalog and our article ‘‘Know Your Binoculars,’’ published in Audubon Magazine. Mirakel Optical Co., Inc., 331 Mansion St., West Coxsackie, NY 12192 (518) 731-2610 Rentals BEAUTIFUL HAWAII—Condominiums all islands. Free brochures. Paradise Management, 50 South Beretania C207, Honolulu, HI 96813 HAWAII: OCEAN FRONT HOUSE on Oahu's beautiful Windward Coast. Weekly $425.00 and monthly $1500.00. Pultz, Box 47, Kailua, Hl 96734 (808) 261- 6594 OLD FASHIONED, secluded farm on Cape Breton Is- land offers log cabins, excellent meals, tranquility, & wildflower tours. Write: John Gardner, Orangedale, Nova Scotia, Canada Resorts BELIZE—RUM POINT INN—small beachfront resort on the Caribbean. Spacious private cabafias. Library. Din- ing room featuring tropical taste treats. Snorkel or Dive Plus Mayan ruins, Cockscomb Jaguar Reserve, Birds. Photographic Safaris. 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Johnstone Straits - JUNE & SEPTEMBER TOTAL SOLAR Baja California - JULY 7-14 Small Groups Led by Whale and Wildlife Specialists 1696N Ocean Dr, McKinleyville, CA 95521 800-548-7555 AFFORDABLE AFRICAN ADVENTURES: wildlife/go- rilla safaris to Tanzania, Kenya, Rwanda, Botswana, Zambia, Madagascar, Namibia. Wanderlust Adven- tures, 65 Clarkson, Suite 207, Denver, CO 80218 (303) 777-5846 AFRICA, ALASKA, AMAZON, AUSTRALIA, Galapagos Natural History Expeditions. Small groups, expert lead- ership, 18th year. Free brochure. Nature Expeditions International, Dept. NHC, P.O. Box 11496, Eugene, OR 97440 ALASKA WILDLAND Natural History Safaris 7,10, & 12 days Denali Park Kenai Refuge Seacoast Glaciers “Why sightsee Alaska when you can experience it!” 1-800-334-8730 Po. Box 259, Trout Lake, WA 98650 ADVENTURES ALASKA Alpine Wildflower Workshops in Denali Na- tional Park. Experience the tundra during spring flow- ering with an Alaskan botanist. Write to Kantishna Roadhouse, Box 130, Denali, AK 99755 1-800-942-7420 ALASKA: Small group, tent camping or lodge and hotel tours. Alaska and Western Canada. Hike, raft, kayak as you travel. Fifteen itineraries from one to four weeks. CampaAlaska Tours, P.O. Box 872247, Wasilla, Alaska 99687 (907) 376-9438 ALLAGASH CANOE TRIPS. Maine and Canada. Wil- derness, wildlife. Guided adventures for novice to ex- pert. Box 713H, Greenville, ME 04441 (207) 695-3668 AMAZON EXPEDITIONS. General and special interest, led by authors Paul Beaver and Milly Sangama. 1824 N.W. 102nd Way, Gainesville, FL 32606 ARCHAEOLOGY TOURS—SW Rock Art, Mesa Verde, Canyon de Chelly, Chaco Canyon, Yucatan, Zuni, Ban- delier, Santa Fe. New Mexico, Arizona & Mexico. 1st Class. Guided by leading archaeologists. Archaeologi- cal Conservancy, 415 Orchard Dr., Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 982-3278 ARCHEOLOGY FOR UNDERGRADUATES. Two ses- sions of a four week Archeological Field School in the excavation of a late Pueblo Il Anasazi site on the Utah/ Arizona border. Section #1 June 11 to July 7, 1991 and Section #2 from July 9 to August 3, 1991. Intended for undergraduate college students. No experience re- quired. Six quarter credits. Limited enrollment. For cost information write: Dr. Richard A. Thompson, Ar- cheological Field School, Southern Utah University, Cedar City, UT 84720 72 Naturat History 4/9] Marke ASIA: MALAYSIA, NEPAL, CHINA, PAKISTAN, Japan ... Environmental, cultural, bicycle and custom adven- tures! Asian Pacific Adventures. 826-NH4 South Sierra Bonita, Los Angeles, CA 90036 (213) 935-3156, (800) 825-1680 AUSTRALIA/NEW ZEALAND WALKABOUTS: Personalized tour programs featuring nature, hiking and the outdoors. Enjoy hiking and camping safaris, lodge stays and island resorts in New Zealand's scenic National Parks and Milford Track; Australia’s Outback, Tropical North and Great Barrier Reef. Pacific Exploration Co., Box 3042-N, Santa Barbara, CA 93130 (805) 687-7282 BELIZE / COSTA RICA / GALAPAGOS / PERU / Cop- per Canyon. Trekking, rafting, cultural and naturalist adventures. Small groups. Personalized service. Global Adventures, P.O. Box 1897N, Boulder, CO 80306 (800) 322-6911 (303) 440-6911 BOTSWANA, ALASKA, WASHINGTON STATE, Gala- pagos—for dates and intineraries contact: New Jersey Audubon Travel, c/o Rancocas Nature Center, RD 1 Rancocas Road, Mount Holly, NJ 08060. Phone (609) 261-2495, Tuesday through Sunday SS SS Copper Canyon / San Miguel Allende TraintocanyonlargerthanGrand | Train over Old Spanish Silver Canyon continuing to Sea of | Route. Colonial Historic tours. Cortez. Mountain lodges, pine | Tula Toltec archaeology. forests, Tarahumara Indians. | Monarch butterfly sanctuary. Brochure 1-800-225-2829 m-F 9 a.m.-6 p.m. central Columbus Travel, 6017 Callaghan Rd. * San Antonio, TX 78228 COSTA RICA TROPICAL ADVENTURE. Superb birding and natural history tour. Explore spectacular tropical rainforests, mountain cloud forests and more. Expert leaders, August 4-14, December 22-January 1. Nature World Explorations, 11442 High Hay Drive, Columbia, MD 21044 (301) 730-0877 DIG FOR DINOSAURS! Join leading paleontologists May-September in Western Colorado. Dinosaur Dis- covery Expeditions 1-800-547-0503, (714) 489-8950 EXPERIENCE THE COLORFUL COLORADO Plateau. Wildlife Expeditions, Indian Rock Art Seminars and Trailrides in the canyon country of south-eastern Utah. Hondoo Rivers and Trails, P.O. Box 98, Torrey, Utah 84775. Phone (801) 425-3519 GALAPAGOS! Excellent boats, small groups, licensed guides. In-depth trips include mainland Ecuador, op- tional extensions to the Amazon Basin. Write or call— Voyagers, Dept. NG-4, Box 915, Ithaca, NY 14851 (607) 257-3091 GALAPAGOS. Free info on-your-own Discovery Tours/: wildlife & photo workshops. Also the essential 250 pp. “how to’ guidebook ($16.50 postpaid). Galapagos a 2674N. 1st St., #112, San Jose, CA 95134 (800) -3767 GALAPAGOS You, 9 other adventurers and our licensed naturalist will sail by yacht to explore more islands than any other Galapagos expedition. 60 trip dates. Machu Picchu option. Free brochure. Inca Floats 415-420-1550 1311-N 63rd St., Emeryville CA 94608 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS. From $1666 including air. Ec- uador/Peru options and archeological tours. Joseph Colley. LAST, Inc., 43 Millstone, Randallstown, MD 21133 (301) 922-3116 GALAPAGOS XMAS cruise Dec. 22, $2,581. 14 night cruise Nov. 10, $3,600. Summer tours $2,300. Rates include airfare from Miami. Small groups on first class yachts. Catalog. Galapagos Holidays, 745 Gerrard East, Toronto, Canada, M4M 1Y5. Tel: (416) 469-8211 GUATEMALA, PERU, BALI—INDONESIA CRAFT Tours—Explore key cultural arts centers with folk art collector/photographer Gordon Frost. Twenty-three years experience. Small groups. Contact: Gordon Frost,.P.O. Box 2, Benicia, California 94510 (707) 747- 1316 HAWAII/ALASKA—Hawaiian islands natural history trips led by expert naturalists. Including July solar eclipse. Alaska: off the beaten path wilderness adven- tures. Voyagers, Dept. NE-4, Box 915, Ithaca, NY 14851 (607) 257-3091 PAPUA NEW GUINEA Expeditionary Cruises, Flying Safaris, Overland Adventures MELANESIAN TOURIST SERVICES The only way to see Papua New Guinea Call for free color brochure 1 (800) 776-0370 10351 Santa Monica Bivd., #305, W. L.A., CA 90025 NEW GUINEA BIRD-WATCHING TOURS—June and October 1991. Our 1990 tour produced 300 species including 17 Birds-of-Paradise. Contact: Dr. Darrell Price, Bird of Paradise Tours, 150 Queen Street, South- port 4215, Australia TRAVEL WRITING AT ITS BEST—Margaret Atwood, Wallace Stegner, Jeane Kirkpatrick, Margaret Drabble, Barry Lopez, and leading editors. Bimonthly 48-page newsletter, $20/year. Sample—$2.00. Travel Review, Box 414-H, Glen Echo, MD 20812. Tel (301) 229-7567 UK BIRDING TOURS to England, Wales and Scotland, May/June 1991. 33 Carmarthen Avenue, Portsmouth P06 2AG England (01144) 705 370559 UNIQUE DESTINATIONS From the SAHARA to BOTSWANA , from ECUADOR to PATAGONIA, from INDIA to CHINA...nomads, tribal peoples, wildlife...over 30 itineraries! TURTLE TOURS, INC. 9446 Quail Trail, Box# 1147/NH, Carefree, AZ 85377 (602) 224-5804 WILD DOLPHIN ENCOUNTERS—for 1991—aboard the MV/Dream Too. 10 years experience with wild At- lantic spotted dolphin. Color brochure available: Call 1-800-741-5335 or write: P.O. Box 033271, Indialantic, FL 32903-0271 Wanted FRANKLIN MINT SETS, coin and stamp estates. Will pay top dollar. Send printed list with phone number to Stan Katz, P.O. Box 524-H, Cranford, NJ 07016, USA (908) 561-4697 OLD TAPESTRIES, textiles, weavings, embroideries, Aubusson, Needlepoint, Oriental, European and Chi- nese rugs. Paisley & Kashmir Shawls. 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Retrace the route of great Viking explorers with calls at traditional Nordic villages and an- cient Viking sites. The entire group is limited to just 83 participants plus a team of expert lecturers. Our base is a luxurious, fully stabi- lized cruise vessel with just 50 passenger suites. Highlights include: » The rugged, remote Shetland Islands, famed for ancient archeo- logical sites such as Clickhimin Broch and Jarlshof. » Mykines, in the volcanic Faroe Islands, with 1,000-year-old Viking villages and spectacular seaside cliffs with millions of seabirds. > Hofn, an untamed region on Iceland’s spectacular east coast characterized by glaciers and magnificent, deep fjords. > Heimaey Island, where a volcano adjacent to Iceland’s largest fishing port erupted in 1973, and Surtsey Island, newly formed from a 1963 volcanic eruption. > Prince Christian Sound, Godthaab and Sondre Strom, magnifi- cent and rarely visited fjords along the dramatic coastline of Greenland. > Greenland’s ancient Viking sites and picturesque villages such as Igaliko, Hvalsey, Julianehaab and Frederikshaab. > Diverse and abundant wildlife, including numerous species of marine mammals, millions of seabirds and flowers. > A luxurious cruise vessel with just 50 passenger cabins, all deluxe suites. > Fascinating, slide-illustrated lectures by experts in Viking histo- ry, wildlife, geology and ecology. Natural History Discovery Cruises Central Park West at 79th St. New York, NY 10024-5192 (212) 769-5700 in New York State or, toll-free, (800) 462-8687 John Elk Ill 74 Naturav History 4/91 Travelers to the northern reaches of Nova Scotia’s Cape Breton Island have long admired its densely forested canyons, the rock cliffs that drop precipitously to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, and the rug- ged shorelines that face the pounding At- lantic Ocean. Canada has set aside 367 square miles of this landscape as Cape Breton Highlands National Park. The park encompasses a large plateau, ranging from 1,000 feet high at its margins to 1,700 feet at its center, through which clear rivers and streams have carved deep valleys. Picturesque waterfalls plunge into some of the canyons following heavy rain- fall. The park also boasts many plants and animals that are near the limit of their geographical ranges. Because glaciers completely covered the region during the Ice Age, all the vege- tation present today became established sometime after the ice retreated, 12,000 years ago. Sixty-four species are rare in this part of the country, mostly arctic- alpine plants that were driven south dur- ing glaciation and subsequently found fa- vorable niches on Cape Breton, usually in out-of-the-way places where competition from other species remained minimal. The coast of Cape Breton Island, left, is washed by the Atlantic Ocean near Black Brook. Above: Mary Anne Falls Cape Breton Highlands, Nova Scotia by Robert H. Mohlenbrock Botanists recognize three major life zones within the park, which generally correspond to three North American for- est types: taiga, boreal, and acadian. The taiga, which covers about 22 percent of the park’s land surface, occupies the high- est elevations at the center of the plateau. Surrounding the taiga is the boreal forest, which accounts for 55 percent of the land. The rest is acadian forest, which grows on the gentle slopes near the Atlantic Ocean and extends into the canyons. Transitional between boreal forest and the treeless arctic plain known as tundra, the taiga forest consists of stunted ever- green trees. These trees, mostly black spruce and balsam fir, may be only three feet tall after 150 years of growth. They owe their dwarfed condition to a harsh environment—extreme cold, exposure to ice, a short growing season, and poor soils. Numerous gray lichens, such as reindeer lichen, cover much of the ground, crunch- ing beneath every footstep. Elsewhere, soils made acidic by the accumulation of peat moss provide ideal conditions for wild blueberry, Labrador tea, and trailing ar- butus. Poorly drained depressions harbor species rare for the area, mostly members James Hanken; Bruce Coleman, inc. 75 of a more arctic flora. They include cloud- berry, the arctic bur reed, and four minia- ture species of birch. Boreal forest—here a southern arm of vegetation widespread to the north—gen- erally cloaks the western slopes of the highlands and the upper slopes of the can- yons. Spruce and balsam fir dominate, with paper birch a characteristic decidu- ous tree. The understory is lush and var- ied. Among the unusual plants are oblong- Mist hangs over the shallow Lake of Islands, above. Steep 10 Miles leaved rattlesnake plantain orchid and a ground pine. Most majestic is the acadian forest, which here consists of huge sugar maples (among the northernmost of this species in the wild) and other deciduous trees, with smaller numbers of eastern white pine, eastern hemlock, and balsam fir. These trees line the lower slopes and valley bot- toms, with their streams and rivers. There are several places to observe the Jeffrey Blaufarb rock cliffs, opposite page, face the Gulf of Saint Lawrence at Red River, just north of the national park. 76 Natura History 4/9] Cape Breton Highlands For visitor information write: Superintendent Cape Breton Highlands National Park Ingonish Beach, Nova Scotia BOC 1L0 Canada (902) 285-2691 acadian forest, including the areas adja- cent to the North Aspy River, the Mac- kenzie River, and Corney Brook. One of my favorites is a short trail along Mc- Intosh Brook, whose waters rush through a second-growth forest of white spruce, yellow birch, sugar maple, and red maple. Because the trees grow close together and form a dense canopy, the forest floor is covered by low-growing mosses and such shade-loving wildflowers as the round- leaved orchid, bluebead lily, two-eyed berry, and zigzag goldenrod. Often found at the edge of the brook are colonies of horsetail, a plant with jointed stems whose leaves are nothing more than tiny, triangu- lar, blackish scales. A more extensive trail system pene- trates the beautiful Grande Anse River gorge, just east of McIntosh Brook and accessible from the Lone Sheiling parking lot. Large, mature sugar maples (one of them 120 feet tall) and yellow birches are very common on the steep side slopes, while American beech prevails in broader portions of the valley floor. One huge American elm is about 250 years old. Because it contains many plants rare for the region, the Grande Anse River gorge has been named an International Biologi- cal Preserve. Beneath the old-growth sugar maples and yellow birches, botanists have recorded twenty-one species of ferns, from the very large ostrich fern, inter- rupted fern, and cinnamon fern to the smaller and more delicate oak fern, beech fern, and fragile fern. Among them is green spleenwort, which is normally found in more southern regions. Farther up the Grande Anse, where the valley narrows, other plants grow on the wet, rocky cliff faces, including roseroot sedum and smooth woodsia fern. The rock vole and Gaspé shrew, mammals that are very rare for Nova Scotia, also reside here. This month, columnist Robert H. Mohl- enbrock takes a break from his usual beat—the 156 U.S. national forests—to introduce a neighboring territory. Mohl- enbrock is Visiting Distinguished Profes- sor of Plant Biology at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. John E. Swedberg; Bruce Coleman, inc. 5 ae benmesenat tts = Me calee wy 2: a CELESTIAL EVENTS Observatory Hill by Thomas D. Nicholson Visitors to Washington, D.C., this spring and summer should take a tour of the U.S. Naval Observatory on Massa- chusetts Avenue, one of the most acces- sible observatories in the country. Estab- lished in the mid-1800s, it is also the oldest large observatory in the country. Al- though its original purpose was to serve the needs of sailors by establishing time standards and providing precise charts for celestial navigation, the facility has made significant contributions to astronomy. The observatory’s main telescope dates back to 1873. Its mechanical parts have been modernized, but its high-quality twenty-six-inch lens is the original. Through this lens (the largest of any re- fracting telescope of its time), Asaph Hall discovered the two moons of Mars in Au- gust 1877. After World War II, with in- creasing deterioration of Washington’s skies because of light and air pollution, the Naval Observatory established a station under the clear skies of Flagstaff, Ari- zona. Today, a sixty-one-inch reflecting telescope at the newer facility, together with the one in Washington, is devoted to the precise measurement of stellar posi- tions and distances. Before visiting the observatory, obtain a copy of The House on Observatory Hill, by Gail S. Cleere (available from the U.S. Government Printing Office, Wash- ington, D.C. 20407). The paperback is a guide to the history and facilities of the observatory, as well as to many of Wash- ington’s classical mansions. The guide also describes the vice president’s official resi- dence—the House on Observatory Hill. Gerald Ford was the first vice president scheduled to live there, but before he 78 Natura History 4/91 could move in, he became president. Prior to Ford, we had no official residence for our vice presidents. Events in the calendar below are given in local time unless otherwise indicated. April 1: Four of the five bright planets are evening “stars”: Brilliant Venus, domi- nating the show, is in the west in the early evening; from dusk until after midnight, Mars is in the west, below Gemini’s bright stars Pollux and Castor; brilliant Jupiter is in the south and west until it sets well after midnight; and until the 14th, Mercury is low in the southwest in early twilight. April 2: The waning gibbous moon, three days past full, rises after 10:00 p.m. and fills the southeast with moonglow; to its left is Scorpius’ bright star Antares. April 3: The moon occults bright red Antares over Europe, but the event ends before the moon rises in America, shortly after 11:00 p.m. April 4: Mercury starts the westerly loop in its apparent orbital path, which hastens its departure from the evening sky by midmonth. April 5—6: Apogee moon (farthest from the earth) is in the Archer’s “teapot” dur- ing morning hours; on the 6th the moon is just left of the teapot’s uppermost star. April 7: Moonrise is at about 1:30 a.M., and last-quarter phase is at 1:35 a.M., EST. Set clocks ahead one hour; daylight saving time begins at 2:00 a.m. on the 8th. April 8: Saturn and the waning crescent moon to its right can be seen in Cap- ricornus from about 4:00 a.m., EDT, until sunrise. The dim stars of the Sea Goat form the shape of a bikini around the moon and Saturn. April 9-12: Each morning, the predawn crescent moon rises slimmer and later while moving slowly away from nearby Saturn. The thirtieth anniversary of manned space flight (Yuri Gagarin) is on the 12th. April 14: New moon is at 3:38 P.M., EDT. Mercury is at inferior conjunction, passing between the earth and the sun and entering the morning sky. April 15-16: The very thin new cres- cent moon may be visible in twilight on the 15th, but certainly by the 16th. The three planets aligned above the moon in the evening—Venus, Mars, and Jupiter—tie approximately along the path the moon will follow on the nights ahead. April 17: Perigee moon (nearest the earth) is at about 1:00 p.m., EDT. The moon is just above Venus after passing it before sunset. Aldebaran is the reddish star to the left in Taurus. Dimmer Mars and bright Jupiter are above the moon and Venus. April 19: The thick crescent moon and Mars appear very close together tonight. The moon drifts slowly left past Mars as the night progresses. April 21: First-quarter moon is at 8:39 A.M., EDT. The moon, to the left of bril- liant Jupiter, moves away from the planet. Gemini’s twin stars, Pollux and Castor, are virtually in line with Jupiter and the moon. Venus moves through the stars of Taurus, passing above Aldebaran. April 22-23: With the maximum of the Lyrid meteor shower at about 1:00 p.m., EDT, on the 22d, meteors radiating from the constellation Lyra may be visible both mornings. The hourly count is only about fifteen, but the sky is moonless. American Museum of Natural J : | History OF SOU Ce Sew Discovery Cruises” (including ihe Orinoco, Devil’ s Island and 1000 miles up the Amazon) Aboard the 80-Passenger M.S. Polaris with American Museum lecturers and friends October 7-21, 1991 ATLANTIC OCEAN ‘¢. TRINIDAD DEVIES ISEAND xperience with a team of experts from the American Museum of Natural History an in-depth exploration of South America’s mightiest rivers—the Orinoco and the Amazon. Our adventure cruise is led by Museum scientists who share their knowledge and enthusiasm for the world’s richest ecosystem through slide- illustrated lectures, films and informal talks over cocktails at the end of each day ashore. We join these naturalists daily in zodiac landing craft to explore hidden tributaries in search of sloths, monkeys, caiman, butterflies, exotic birds, trees and flowers. We also explore traditional villages and markets, museums and historic landmarks. This jungle adventure provides great comfort and good fun. Our vessel accommodates only 80 passengers including the lecturer team, which assures you of a small group experience aboard ship and ashore. Enjoy fine cuisine, excellent service, comfortable cabins, and the company of distinguished experts and interesting participants. For further information write AMNH/Discovery Cruises, Central Park West at 79th St, NY, NY 10024, or call (212) 769-5700, or toll-free outside New York State, (800) 462-8687. April 25: Mars forms a narrow inverted isosceles triangle with Pollux and Castor in the darkening western sky. April 27: Virgo’s bright star Spica is just above the moon, which is not quite full, as they rise in the southeast after sunset. Mercury ends its retrograde (west- erly) motion. April 28: Full moon is at 4:58 p.M., EDT, shortly before it moves into Libra. April 30: The moon is again close to Scorpius’ Antares, the reddish star to its left. The fainter stars of the Scorpion’s hooked tail curve downward to the left, \ > . 80 Narurat History 4/91 ending at Shaula, about where its stinger would be. The spring Sky Map shows the sky for April, May, and June from 40° north lati- tude at the hours given below. To use the map, hold it vertically in front of you with south (S) at the bottom and match the lower half with the stars you see when you face south. As you face in other directions, turn the map to bring the corresponding compass direction to the bottom. The stars move continuously westward during the night. By morning (before dawn), those on Pp d= lelt 2) ee a oe O i Sai eer ik 1 ere ] Pe a a | e! the western half of the map will have set, those on the eastern half will have moved into the west, and new stars (those of the summer evenings) will have risen in the east. The map shows the sky at about 2:30 A.M. on April 1; 1:30 a.m. on April 15; 12:30 a.m. on May 1; 11:30 P.M. on May 15; 10:30 p.m. on June 1; 9:30 p.m. on June 15; and 8:30 p.m. on July 1. The map can be used for an hour or more before and after the times given. Thomas D. Nicholson is director emeri- tus of the American Museum. Uae Jupiter @ es ea ege eae ere ee June 18 a wc) e Sele) Ae yi @ April 28 st | ee le Rpt Caer @ March 30 Helmut Wimmer N Advertisement AIURAL HIS TORY Members’ Market NATURAL HISTORY Magazine offers Members a free service. Certain advertisers indicated they will send you additional information. To obtain this, simply fill out the postage-paid card and drop it in any U.S. mailbox. Circle the numbers on the card corresponding to the numbers beside the advertisers in whom you are interested. Please allow up to six weeks for replies. Although each advertiser has assured us that it will respond to each request, the magazine is not responsible for any failure to do so. Furthermore, the listing of an advertiser does not constitute any affiliation with, or endorsement by, the American Museum of Natural History or NATURAL HISTORY Magazine. 1. Andersen Windows, Inc. WINDOW AND PATIO DOOR FACTBOOK. Full-color bro- chure provides information on custom combina- tions, planning a project, choosing a contractor, and much more. FREE. 2. BritRail. Send for your 1991 brochure of “Go BritRail” and find out, how to see a lot of Great Britain for not a lot of money. 3. British Tourist Authority. Britain: Send for free full-color “Britain” vacation guide, packed with money-saving tips, calendar of events, and suggested itineraries for England, Scotland and Wales. 4. The Buccaneer. The Buccaneer sits atop a hill overlooking 3 powder white sand beaches and surrounded by an 18 hole championship golf course. 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Zeiss quality products avail- able at fine eyewear dispensers and sporting goods locations or call 1-800-446-1807. See page 215 ae ES IEE END Pe a aS POE SE OE ee SS ee ee PERI 81 REVIEWS A Continent on Fire by Jon E. Keeley When Yellowstone National Park ig- nited several summers ago, some land managers considered this to be the “Chal- lenger accident” of fire ecology. The bu- reaucratic backlash did temporarily halt the use of fire on U. S. federal lands, but in the end this event did much to publicize the role of fire in natural ecosystems. In the same manner, Stephen J. Pyne’s book Burning Bush: A Fire History of Austra- lia will do much to educate the global community about the role fire has played in the lives of Australians, as well as citi- zens of other continents. Stephen Pyne is a great storyteller, and here he weaves as fine a tale as one could imagine about a phenomenon as seem- ingly ordinary as fire. The history of fire is related through a collection of four “books”: The Eucalypt, The Aborigine, The European, and The New Australian. The story begins hundreds of millions of years ago, at a time when the present continent of Australia was but a piece of a larger landmass known as Gondwana. Through eons of time, Australia split off BurnING Busu: A Fire History oF Aus- TRALIA, by Stephen J. Pyne. Henry Holt and Company, $27.95; 497 pp., illus. from its Gondwana siblings, Africa, India, and Antarctica. This breakup isolated Australia, allowing its biota to follow a separate course of evolution. The purpose of Pyne’s story is to convince the reader that fire, more than any other force, has been an overriding feature of the Austra- lian landscape. Rich in words and images, the author’s message is that “fire en- hances, multiplies, stimulates, recycles, and animates, a plural not a singular proc- ess, massaging a varied, subtle biota.” In Australia, the eucalypt carries the 82 NarturAL History 4/91 message of fire from its earliest origins to the present. It is so flammable that “once torched, the burning bush resembled a spiral nebula, its fuels and fires like paired arms locked into an accelerating vortex.” In the process of adapting to a life with fire, the eucalypt grew so accustomed to this feature of nature that life without it is impossible for some Eucalyptus species. In effect, the eucalypt has become the element of combustion on which Austra- lian fire depends. Stephen Pyne is the Zen master ecolo- gist who teaches us that separating the Seer + EE Lae armers fighting a bush fire From Cassell's Picturesque Australia (1980), edited by E.E. Miller ad en that threatens their bark house organic and inorganic is not always pos- sible. Like the Zen idea that an organism’s skin does not separate it from, but rather joins it to, the environment, Pyne tells us that fire and plant are one, and “the link- age between life and fire is the biomass they share—for one, part of a cycle of nutrients and habitats; for the other, fuel.” Burning Bush gives the reader a glimpse into the world of plant adapta- tions to fire, introduced as “unimaginable freaks of fire.” Here are described plant structures such as the lignotuber, a woody, underground, swollen stem that stores nu- Pom Oe Wa Goa am Meese Um Of ON a teu reac PReIeGry tO unten SCANDINAVIAN SAGA Eis = = GERMANY NORWAY SWEDEN DENMARK _ JUNE 28-JULY 12, 1991 vee a 1 Pee a eemene Tamers iscover the historic cities and magnificent landscapes of Scandinavia as well as newly reunified Berlin on a land/ cruise program aboard the 5-star, 70-cabin Illiria. Join a small group of participants and explore fascinating Norse cities and towns and a coastline renowned throughout the world for its awe-inspiring fjords. Experts in art, history, folklore and geology accompany the entire trip. Highlights include: e Bergen, Norway, former home of Vikings, medieval kings and powerful Hanseatic League merchants. e Norway’s spectacular coastline, including the massive Geirangertjord and Sognefjord. e Lillesand, Norway, a charming Norse village tucked away behind a labyrinth of channels and skerries. © Oslo, the rustic capital of Norway founded in 1050 by King Harald Hardraada. é : ‘ : : ee For complete details write or call: e The lively city of Copenhagen and its magnificent Central Park Week at 70uk Se Amalienborg and Rosenborg palaces. New York, NY 10024-5192 : ‘ : : Toll-free (800) 462-8687 e The beautiful city of Stockholm, built on 14 islands ot in New York State (212) 769-5700 connected by 42 bridges. e Visby, on Sweden’s island of Gotland, one of the wealthiest eo, and most powerful of the medieval trade centers. Natical ® Newly reunified Berlin, one of Europe’s most exciting capitals. ARN AR History e Potsdam, Frederick the Great’s brilliant baroque city. Discovery Cruises AMERICAN oe: MEMBERABILTIA “i “A WILDERNESS, in contrast with those areas where man and his own work dominates the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and its community of life are untrammeled by man, where man ” himself is a visitor who does not remain... . —THE WILDERNESS ACT, SEPTEMBER 31, 1964 \ ' is fa! i Written and produced by the editorial and iu ermMness conservation staffs of The Wilderness Society and illustrated by more than sev- enty full-color photographs from some of the best landscape photographers at work in the United States today, Wilderness America is a richly informed and magnifi- cently produced document of the Natural Wilderness Preservation System 25 years later. A full color wall map is included for reference. Softcover. (8% X11, 64 pages) $15.15 To order send check or money order for $15.15 to Members’ Book Program, Members’ American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, Book New York, NY 10024. Or call toll-free 1-800-437-0033 for credit cardorders, Program OI MEMBERABILIA “8 TUCKED HIGH in the Canadian Rockies is a small quarry less than a city block long. The Burgess Shale is 530 million years old, the remains of an ancient sea. It contains more varieties of life—perfectly preserved in fearful and fantastic detail—than are held in all of our modern oceans. ; The story of how Burgess Shale came to Wonderful HIT be, of its creatures, attempts to classify @ them, and where they fit into the scheme of evolution is one of the greatest stories— srs 3 and one of the hottest controversies—in Burges science. The story is told here in a anita . ee strength, depth, and grace unique to Bone Wh at io if © Stephen Jay Gould. ASETEni ne ae “An intellectual delight, one of Gould’s : best books.”—LIBRARY JOURNAL etn La “Exciting and illuminating material on the beginnings of life?’—PUBLISHER’S WEEKLY SNE) ne edit ; rs American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, Book New York, NY 10024. Or call toll-free 1-800-437-0033 for credit cardorders. PYOGram To order send check or money order for $21.45 to Members’ Book Program, Members’ 84 Narurat History 4/91 trients and water. The lignotuber also houses numerous dormant buds ready to spring to life once the aboveground stems are destroyed. Other plant species hold their seeds inside woody cones for many years, and dispersal to germination sites occurs only after fire. Thus, the critical seedling stage of the plant’s life history is given the advantage of fire’s beneficial effect; plant competitors are removed and the combustion of organic matter releases valuable nutrients. Other pyrogenic “freaks” include the grass tree Xanthor- rhoea, a plant that seldom if ever flowers, except following fire. The ecology of Australian plant adapta- tions to fire is a fascinating study that has already generated many research papers. One disappointment in the Burning Bush was that little more than what I have out- lined above found its way into this book. Considering the depth and detail Pyne has given to the sociological aspects of fire, this plant ecologist felt cheated. And curi- ously, as a scientist I did not find, as Ste- phen Pyne worried in the preface, that his “poetic license” set my “teeth on edge.” In fact, quite the opposite, the paucity of rich metaphor and poetic license in the second half of the book was noticed and missed. In the very few instances my teeth were on edge I felt this feeling would be shared with nonscientists; for example, “The mulga melange hosts a biotic corroboree, a massing of multiple species that dance around a central fire which illuminates but does not inform.” Such phrases dance around the point, illuminate the prose, but fail to inform. _ The power behind Stephen Pyne’s mes- sage, however, is that it goes beyond de- scribing the history of fire in Australia. Here we have a glimpse into the life of the Aborigines and how fire was integrated into all facets of their existence. This book will open a new world for many readers who previously never considered how fire could be incorporated into the psyche of a race of people. Where the eucalypt is de- scribed as a pyrophyte, the Aborigine is profiled as a pyrophile. “In the Aborigine, Australian fire had discovered an extraor- dinary ally.” What developed was a symbiosis be- tween humans and nature. Until approxi- mately 40,000 years ago, lightning was the primary source of ignition for wildfires on the Australian continent. Upon the arrival of Homo sapiens, fire expanded its geo- graphical and seasonal range. However, not only did the Aborigines carry the torch farther into the bush and beyond the sea- sonal limits of lightning but they also used fire to extract many of their resources from the world around them. From the age of three the Aborigine was educated in the ways of utilizing fire. Fire was more than a cooking tool. It was an agricultural tool, used to manage the natural ecosystems, encouraging some food plants and discouraging other, use- less plants. Fire was a hunting tool, used to drive kangaroos from hiding. Fire also was a means of protection, capable of driving off enemies, aswell as reducing combus- tible plant materials, which if allowed to accumulate were capable of sustaining catastrophic fires. In the chapter “Fires of the Dreaming,” Pyne describes how “fire was as integral to the mental as to the material existence of the Aborigine.” It formed the basis of their spiritual world. The reader is led to believe that without fire much of what makes all of us human would not have been possible. Campfires allowed us to extend the length of our waking hours into the night. Such time is less useful for hunt- ing and basic survival than for intellectual intercourse; for storytelling. It is around the campfire that the Aborigines created their spiritual universe. “Spiritual inven- tion depended on a material context of heat and light; the social life that sus- tained cognition pivoted around a fire.” Much Aboriginal myth and ritual in- volved fire, and Pyne recounts numerous Aboriginal tales involving its use. Europeans entered the scene and set about a ‘course of altering the ecology of fire on the Australian continent. However, such changes came about not because the new inhabitants were unfamiliar with fire; “probably no fire practice in Australia— or throughout all of Gondwana—lacked an antecedent in British history.” As with the Aborigines, fire was an integral part of the British cognition, and Britons had “fire rites, fire ceremonies, and fire myths.” What complicated the role of fire in the life of the European in Australia was the multiplicity of roles played by the new settlers. For example, in order to burn the cover from certain rock formations, miners “brought fire where fire had been at best an infrequent presence.” Pastoral- ism brought new fauna with “a fever that ravaged every niche in Australia,” and “by ruthless overgrazing, the alien herds devoured the fine fuels that could carry fire.” What followed was a disruption in the local ecological infrastructure; unpal- atable shrub species, previously held at bay by fire, were now allowed to prolifer- ate and shade out the forage grasses. As a consequence, more combustible plants ac- cumulated, setting the stage for cata- strophic fires, and Australians have lived through many. Beginning in the midnineteenth cen- tury, major catastrophic conflagrations, named after days of the week, Black Tues- day, Black Sunday, and so on, devastated various inhabited parts of Australia. Each seemed to bring with it a different mes- sage and to provoke a different response from the populace. Using these events, Pyne leads the reader in detail (perhaps too much detail) through the historical development of the modern-day Austra- lian fire strategy. The “New Australian” is the product of centuries of cultural evolution on the Aus- tralian continent. As the populace strove for its own identity in the world, fire was part of the baggage. People in the field of forestry in various countries of the world have developed policies of dealing with fire; from this body of knowledge, and much personal experience, Australians have fashioned their own strategy for liv- ing with fire in the natural environment. Jon E. Keeley is a professor in the Depart- ment of Biology at Occidental College, Los Angeles. A plant ecologist, Keeley specializes in the fire ecology of Mediter- ranean climate ecosystems. AMERICAN MUSEUM OF NATURAL HISTORY JUNE 27-JULY 7 OR JULY 6-16, 1991 D iscover the spectacular natural beauty of southeast Alaska with a team of gifted Museum and guest lecturers aboard the nimble and maneuverable MV. Sea Lion. With a group of just 74 people, we will cruise the pic- turesque Alaskan coastline in search of the abundant and varied wildlife of this stunning region. From the ship and on shore excursions, observe whales, sea lions, seals, bears, eagles and a host of other animals in their natural habitats. With a team of distinguished scientists, view the incomparable scenery of Alaska as we pass fjords, rivers, glaciers, channels and mountains. We will stop occasionally to enjoy the hospitality and local cuisine of historic Scandinavian and Russian villages as well as the beautiful artwork of the Northwest Coast Indians. For complete details write or call the Museum toll-free out- side New York State (800) 462-8687 or (212) 769-5700. Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY 10024 AT THE AMERICAN MUSEUM TROPICAL RAIN FORESTS In conjunction with the exhibition “Tropical Rainforests: A Disappearing Treasure,” now in Gallery 3, a variety of special programs will highlight the com- plex dynamics and the destruction of these tropical resources. Writer Alexan- der Shoumatoff and Pulitzer Prize-win- ning poet W.S. Merwin will be the fea- tured speakers on Wednesday, April 17, at 7:00 p.m. in the Main Auditorium. Shoumatoff has written about the politics of the Amazon rain forest and the region’s rubber tappers, who have come to symbol- ize the struggle to save the fragile ecosys- tem. Merwin will speak about Wao Kele O Puna, the largest intact lowland rain forest remaining in Hawaii. In a two-day workshop on Friday and Saturday, April 19 and 20, in the Kauf- mann and Linder theaters, seven speakers will address such issues as the use of me- dia and education in rain forest conserva- tion, the pharmaceutical value of tropical plants, the importance of healthy river systems for the survival of tropical forests and the people living in those regions, and developments in the field of tropical agroforestry. Admission is $15 for one day; $25 for two days. In celebration of Earth Day, Sunday, April 21, five films that look at tropical deforestation and its Artist Mark Gostnell finishing the mural in the Museum's “Tropical Rainforests” exhibition. Denis Finnin; AMNH 86 Narturat History 4/9] impact on plant and animal species will be shown. For details about these and other programs, call (212) 769-5305. WILDSCREEN 790 Nine new works by the world’s best wildlife filmmakers will be presented in a special screening on Sunday, April 28, in the Kaufmann Theater. The subjects in- clude the Al Murrah Bedouins of south- ern Arabia; fierce crocodiles of the Grummetti River in the Serengeti; the Great Wood of Caldedon, a vast area of old forest in the Scottish Highlands; Cali- fornia’s undersea forests of giant kelp; a close-up view of the microscopic creatures that share one’s home; a family of gibbons whose life style revolves around song; Af- rica’s most successful large carnivore, the spotted hyena; a pride of lions in the Ser- engeti as a social group; and flamingos in the desolate Makgadikgadi salt pans of Botswana. Call (212) 769-5305 for more information. INDONESIA MONTH Indonesia is a country of about 17,500 islands with traditions as rich and diverse as its many parts. Throughout April, a sampling of Indonesia’s arts and cultures will be presented each weekend at the Leonhardt People Center, as well as Tues- day evenings in the Kaufmann Theater. Programs include the Javanese shadow puppet theater; the gamelan orchestra of metal gongs, flutes, xylophones, double- ended drums, and two-stringed fiddles; ancient ceremonial court music and danc- ing; ikat cloth making and the philosophy of batik garb; the cultures of the Asmat and Dayak peoples; and contemporary In- donesian arts in historical and cultural perspective. Anthropologist Clifford Geertz, writer Umar Kayam, and ecologi- cal anthropologist Christine Padoch will be among the speakers. All programs are free, and seating is on a first-come, first- served basis. For more information, call (212) 769-5315. AT THE PLANETARIUM Join Mike Hauser, of the Goddard Space Flight Center, at the Hayden Plan- etarium on Tuesday, April 9, at 7:30 p.M., for a look at the origins of the universe and the creation of galaxies. Saturday, April 20, is National Astronomy Day, and the president and founder of the World Space Foundation, Robert L. Staehl, will talk about the science of solar sailing. For more information on daily Planetarium happenings, call (212) 769-5900. BACK TO THE GoBI Last summer, three paleontologists from the American Museum retraced the Gobi Deset expeditions led by Roy Chap- man Andrews in the 1920s. This first foray into an area closed to the Western world since 1930 (three more trips are scheduled) has already yielded exciting fossil finds from ecosystems of Central Asia that existed 100 million to 40 million years ago, including the bones of a seven- foot-long lizard related to the Komodo dragon of today. An exhibition of photo- graphs and specimens from both the old and new expeditions will be displayed at the Museum this month. MEMBERS’ PROGRAMS Yale archeologist Richard Burger will discuss the monumental architecture and complex societies of the ancient Peruvian civilizations at Cardal and Mina Perdida on Tuesday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Auditorium (admission is $5 for members; $8 for nonmembers). On Satur- day, April 13, in the Kaufmann Theater, children will be able to explore the world of insects with Loveable Leroy, a bug pup- pet eight feet long ($5 for members; $8 for nonmembers). On Tuesday, April 16, at 7:30 p.m. in the Main Auditorium, an- thropologist Helen Fisher traces Western concepts of gender from their earliest be- ginnings and makes predictions about male-female relationships in the future ($6 for members; $12 for nonmembers). Robert and Esther Tyrrell will talk about their two-year study of Caribbean hum- mingbirds at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, April 21, in the Kaufmann Theater ($5 for members; $8 for nonmembers). For in- formation and ticket availability, call (212) 769-5606. These events take place at the American Museum of Natural History, located on Central Park West at 79th Street in New York City. The Kaufmann Theater and the Leonhardt People Center are located in the Charles A. Dana Education Wing. The Museum has a pay-what-you-wish ad- mission policy. For more information about the Museum, call (212) 769-5100. Discovery Cruises THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS AND QUITO May 3 - 16, 1991 or January 10 - 23, 1992 Tortoises, marine and land iguanas, sea lions, a magnifi- cent array of birdlife, and dramatic volcanic landscapes on these remote islands—aboard the 20-cabin Isabela II—as well as the ancient city of Quito in Ecuador. - SCANDINAVIAN SAGA June 28 - July 12, 1991 Fjords, Nordic landscapes and the art and architecture of the great cities of Scandinavia and Germany, including Bergen, Lillesand, Oslo and the Geiranger and Sogne fjords in Norway, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Visby, Berlin and Potsdam - aboard the luxurious, 70-cabin Illiria. EXPLORING ALASKA'S COASTAL WILDERNESS _ June 27-July 7 or July 6-16, 1991 Spectacular scenery of the Inside Passage from Prince Rupert to Sitka, including fjords, channels, rivers, glaciers, whales, porpoises, sea lions, bears, a wealth of birdlife and the artwork of the Northwest Coast—aboard the com- fortable 37-cabin M.V. Sea Lion. VOYAGE OF THE VIKINGS © Norway to Greenland July 26 - August 8, 1991 Arctic and subarctic ports, remote islands, fjords and ar- cheological sites along legendary Viking routes, including the Shetland and Faroe Islands, Iceland’s Heimaey Island, Surtsey Island and Hofn, and Greenland’s Prince Chris- tian Sound, Godthaab, Frederikshaab, Igaliko, Julianehaab and Sondre Stromfjord—aboard the luxurious, 50-cabin Renaissance. ISLANDS OF POLYNESIA Fiji to Tahiti September 16 - 30, 1991 Spectacular coral reefs, beaches, jungle valleys, coconut groves and picturesque villages of remote and rarely-visited Polynesian islands, including Fiji, Tonga, Niue, the Cook Islands, Bora Bora and Tahiti—aboard the very comfor- table, 75-cabin World Discoverer. American Museum of Natural History / Discovery Cruises and Tours Central Park West at 79 th St. / NY, NY 10024-5192 ANCIENT ISLANDS OF THE — WESTERN MEDITERRANEAN _ September 17 - 28, 1991 Beautiful and historic islands of the Mediterranean begin- ning from Barcelona and ending in Sicily, including Minor- ca, Sardinia, Corsica, Ponza, the Aeolian Islands, Gozo and Malta-aboard the luxurious, 70 cabin I1liria. ORIENTAL ODYSSEY Japan to Singapore October 28 - November 21, 1991 Exotic sites and ports of call along this ancient trade route, including Miyazima and Hagi in Japan, China’s Shanghai, Wuxi, Lan Yu and Hainan Islands, the Spratly Islands, Hong Kong, Taiwan’s Taipei and Taroko Gorge, Kota Kinabalu, Sibu and Kuching in Malaysian Borneo and Singapore-aboard the ultra-luxurious, 50 cabin Renaissance. JUNGLE RIVERS OF SOUTH AMERICA October 6 - 21, 1991 The spectacular Orinoco and Amazon Rivers, flowing through dense tropical jungles where sloths, monkeys, caiman, butterflies, exotic birds, rare trees and flowers and many other types of wildlife live in one of the world’s richest ecosystems — aboard the 41-cabin Polaris. Discovery Tours _ HAWAII AND THE SOLAR ECLIPSE July 3 - 14, 1991 July 21-August 3, 1991 ZAMBIA, ZIMBABWE AND BOTSWANA September 12 - 28, 1991 CHINA AND THE YANGTZE RIVER October 4 - 26, 1991 (800) 462-8687 or (212) 769-5700 Monday through Friday 9-5 A MATTER OF [TASTE The Milky Way East Indians have evolved a varied milk-based minicuisine by Raymond Sokolov Speaking as a mammal, I’m not ashamed to say I think I belong to a fine bunch of vertebrates. Our 15,000-odd spe- cies contribute quite a lot to the happiness of the planetary biosphere. Even the hid- eous snouted spiny echidna of Australia, with its peculiar, not to say perverse, mat- ing practices (which I’m not going to ex- plain in a food column) is a welcome player on my team. We need all the help we can get. Mammals have been under siege lately—as predators and polluters— but the unkindest cut of all is the cam- paign aimed against our defining charac- teristic—milk. As you will have guessed, I’m not about to turn traitor to my (taxonomic) class and join the antimilk Mafia. I concede that milk is a source of fat, of cholesterol, of allergenic proteins, not to mention a lot of substances the dietary gastrophobes talk about late into the night. Milk is also a source of such alleged poisons as cheese (a concentrated fat source with a potential for spreading various microbial plagues, including the uncommon but lurid listeri- osis). Milk is, moreover, the source of ar- tery-clogging cream and butter. Millions of people simply can’t digest milk after childhood. They lack an en- zyme necessary for the successful metab- olization of milk. Naturally, the cuisines of such groups do not include milk shakes. The question is: did these milkless cuisines produce the enzymeless adults or vice versa? And, more profoundly, should we in the precoronary set in the United States take these mostly African and Asian cui- sines as models for our own consumption? Or does the temperate route make more sense for enzyme-endowed Americans, who also have easy access to skim milk, ice milk, and low-fat yogurt? I confess that in my efforts to sail to the near side of obesity, I have tried all these dodges. But I do love dairy products, and I 88 Natura History 4/9] don’t look forward to a long life made even longer by good dietary practice if that life abjures whole milk foods altogether. Lately, in fact, I’ve been looking into a previously unnamed category of recipes whose common ingredient is what might be called reduced milk. Reduction is a standard procedure in cooking. The term comes up primarily in the context of French sauces; indeed, it is a translation of its French cognate, reduc- tion. Escoffier will say “reduce by half and serve.” He, and any other professional writer, means simply that we should boil a liquid until it is “reduced” in volume by half, through evaporation. Chefs reduce sauces to intensify their tastes and to thicken them. In the most extreme case, French haute cuisine reduces classic brown sauce so far that it is no longer a liquid but rather a solid meat glaze. Milk also gets reduced in French cook- ing, most often in the form of cream. But all European cuisines share one recipe in which whole milk is reduced almost to nothing: rice pudding. A typical classic rice pudding recipe will combine a quart of milk with a quarter cup of rice. Slow cooking in an uncovered pan in the oven produces a solid and unctuous dessert. The disparity in the volumes of the milk and rice (the ratio of their volumes is 16:1) is so great that people reading a rice pud- ding recipe for the first time invariably conclude that the text has a misprint. Then a more experienced person explains to them that the rice has a miraculous ability to swell and absorb liquid. This is also wrong or at least misleading. Yes, indeed, the rice absorbs a lot of liq- uid. Conventional recipes for plain boiled rice combine water and rice in quantities calculated to provide complete absorption of liquid just at the moment when slow cooking has softened the rice to the de- sired point of doneness. But the ratio of water to rice, by volume, is usually 2:1, never 16:1. And the cooking occurs in a covered pot, which almost completely eliminates evaporation or reduction of the liquid. In other words, the absorbent capacity of rice is not a sufficient explanation of what happens with rice pudding. Obvi- ously, that is a mixed case of absorption and of evaporation in an open container. Rice pudding raises questions because evaporation occurs after the rice has been added, making it hard to see what’s hap- pening. But we mustn’t blame the first cooks who hit on this method, because they weren’t interested in scientific dem- onstration. They wanted to find the easiest way to prepare rice pudding. And they knew that reducing milk all by itself, espe- cially over direct heat, is a tedious and possibly messy business. As anyone who has ever boiled milk has learned, milk traps steam as it is heated, and if the heating continues past a certain point, a small explosion occurs in the pan. The milk suddenly “foams up,” as the cookbooks say, and overflows the pan. In order to overcome this problem when re- ducing milk over high heat, one should start off with a sufficiently large pan so that even foaming won’t overflow the sides. After a while, when the milk has reduced and thickened, it becomes neces- sary to lower the heat very far and to keep stirring, both to prevent scorching and to stir back any skin forming on the surface of the milk. Middle Eastern cooks carry this process to its ultimate. They reduce rich water- buffalo milk to a white solid called eishta in Arabic and kaymak in Turkish. When full reduction is done in the presence of sugar, the result is a coffee-colored, spreadable solid that plays a traditional role in Hispanic American desserts, espe- cially in Argentina, under the name dulce MOTHER AND CHILD- _ (included in portfolio) E. S. Curtis €€In Mr. Curtis we have both an artist and a trained observer, whose pictures are pictures not merely photographs, whose work has far more than mere accuracy, because it is truthful.99 PRESIDENT THEODORE ROOSEVELT Psward S. Curtis dedi- cated his life to capturing on film the last remaining images of American Indian culture for our generation and those yet to come. Act now and reserve for your family or a cher- ished friend, a portfolio of six fine quality reproduc- iy iti Ee tions from E. S. Curtis aS Wiig. , original photogravures. Own a ages by Edward S. 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NAVAHO, M TO ORDER enclose $100.00 (Members price $90.00) check or money order payable to and send to: NATURAL HIsTorY PRINTS Central Park West @ 79th St. New York, New York 10024-9981 we TO ORDER BY CREDIT CARD CALL 1-800-437-0033 Mon-Sat 7am-7pm (EST) We accept Visa & Mastercard i peeeed Sr eee, Eee M4 n > > = See Secs ae a Send postage paid portfolio to: Name Address Sea ~ ~ a So y M f ; NY ae INTERNATIONAL EXPEDITIONSINC One Environs Park Helena, AL 35080 « 205-428-1700 -800-633-4734 so) ae ated HIGHLIGHTS OF CHINA AND THE YANGTZE RIVER October 4-26,1991 Discover the Forbidden City, the Great Wall. the ar- plogical marvels of Xian, inspiring landscapes of nd magnificent sorses C7 BB Discovery Tours Central Park West at 79th St. New York, NY 10024-5192 (S00)462-8687¢(212)769-5700 90 Narurat History 4/91 de leche. In North America, we have evolved an informal, folk/industrial ver- sion of this dish: a can of sweetened con- densed milk is completely submerged un- der boiling water until the sugar in it caramelizes and the milk solidifies. In the Philippines, to the north of Ma- nila, it is traditional to reduce the milk of the carabao, the local water buffalo, to a quarter of its natural volume and then to cook it with sugar until the mixture, still white, reaches the soft ball stage. Then these pastillas de leche are rolled in sugar and wrapped in white paper. Reduced milk sweets reach their zenith as a genre in India. But then it is India, before all nations, that has experimented most completely with reduced milk. It is not an exaggeration to say that Indian cuisine contains within it a minicuisine evolved around the various stages of thick- ness that milk attains as its water evapo- rates, its proteins coagulate, and its natu- ral sugars turn a gentle brown. Milk is the major source of animal pro- tein for the millions of vegetarian Indians and a basic component of the daily diet of most of the rest of India. Buffalo-milk yogurt, cheese, and the clarified butter called ghee are universal in Indian food, and in their Indian versions, they have special qualities setting them off from their non-Western analogues. The re- duced milk dishes make up an even more special world. Traditional slow boiling in an Indian wok, or kadhai, is a lengthy process made much easier and quicker in the microwave Braciole di Maiale al Latte Pork chops cooked in milk (Slightly adapted from Modern Italian Cooking, by Biba Caggiano, Simon and Schuster, 1987) 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 2 tablespoons oil 4 1-inch-thick pork chops, cut from the loin or the ribs 2 garlic cloves, lightly crushed 4to5 fresh sage leaves (do not use dried sage if fresh is not available) Salt and freshly ground white pepper % cup milk . Ina large skillet, heat the butter and oil until the butter foams. Add the chops, garlic, and fresh sage. Sauté the chops over medium heat until brown on both sides, about 5 to 6 minutes. . Season with salt and pepper. Add the milk. Stir to pick up the bits and pieces — N attached to the bottom of the skillet. Lower the heat and cover the skillet. Simmer for 12 to 14 minutes, turning the chops once during the cooking. If the milk evaporates completely during cooking, add a bit more. 3. Transfer the chops toa plate. Raise the heat and cook the sauce down until only a few tablespoons of thickened curds are left in the skillet. 4. Off the heat, remove as much fat as possible. Return the chops to the skil- let and return to the heat. Cook briefly until the chops are well coated with the thick, browned milky sauce. Serve at once. Yield: 4 servings Aab Gosht Lamb with milk (Adapted from Cooking of the Maharajahs: The Royal Recipes of India, by Shivaji Rao and Shalini Devi Holkar, Viking, 1975) I pound lamb, cut into 3-inch pieces 12 cardamom pods, slightly crushed 2 whole garlic cloves, peeled and slightly crushed 7 inches cinnamon stick 2 teaspoons salt 8 peppercorns 1 quart milk % teaspoon ground ginger % cup whole blanched almonds, un- salted Y% cup heavy cream 1. Put meat ina heavy saucepan with wa- ter to cover. Bring to a boil and skim. 2. Add 4 cardamom pods, garlic, 3 inches of cinnamon stick, | teaspoon salt, and the peppercorns. Boil uncovered until the meat is tender. The water should be reduced to 1 cup. If not, remove the meat and reduce to | cup. 3. Meanwhile, in a separate saucepan boil and stir the milk over high heat with remaining cardamom, cinnamon, and salt until it is reduced to 2 cups. 4. Stir the lamb broth very slowly into the milk. Add the meat and the ginger and simmer, stirring for 10 minutes. 5. Purée the almonds with the cream ina blender. Just before serving, add this purée to the lamb. Heat the dish through and serve with white rice. Yield: 4 servings (as I observed last month in my discussion of Julie Sahni’s Moghul Microwave), but the result is the same. Milk reduced to a quarter of its original volume is a light beige, aromatic liquid called rabadi. Rabadi reduced further, by half (to an eighth of the volume of the original whole milk), is a fudgelike solid called khoya. There are also many dishes where whole milk and a solid ingredient are cooked together until the milk is absorbed and almost vanishes, leaving behind a richness of texture and taste. One of the most un- usual of these, showing the cosmopolitan side of Indian cuisine, is a spicy dish whose basic element is corn kernels cooked in milk until the milk “disappears.” Rabadi, the thick but still pourable re- duction, makes a rich sauce for desserts and fruit. A cheese precipitated from rabadi is the basis for the dessert cheese dumplings, Bengali ras malai, and for the rich Indian ice cream kulfi. Rabadi rediluted with some regular milk is served as a beverage sweetened with sugar. From solid khoya, Indians make a broad variety of fudges (barfi) flavored with pistachio, cardamom, ground ca- shews, coconut, potato, ginger, mung beans, semolina, and pumpkin. Khoya is cooked with grated carrots to make a moist pudding called halwa. The list could be extended because the Indian genius has applied the nutty richness of highly re- duced milk to virtually every vegetable purée and flavoring. A particularly com- plex khoya dish is the pastry called khoya poli, in which a thin, fried whole-wheat puff (like the spherical bread called poori) is stuffed with a paste of khoya, grated ‘coconut, sugar, sultanas, ground carda- mom, chopped almonds, and rose water. Perhaps the furthest that khoya cook- ery gets from a plain glass of milk is in the Kashmiri mock meat dish matar shufta. This is a vegetarian parody, as it were, of the ground meat and chickpea concoction called keema matar. For matar shufta, milk fudge grains are fried until they re- semble ground meat. Something like the same effect occurs in one of Italy’s most celebrated dishes, arrosto di maiale al latte, pork roast with milk, in which a boned pork loin is braised in milk. Eventually, the milk reduces to the equivalent of kKhoya, and then it cooks further, in the pork fat, until it browns in nutty, meatlike, and very delicious little flecks. No one will believe it began as milk—except perhaps an Indian guest willing to indulge in pork. Raymond Sokolov is a writer whose spe- cial interests are the history and prepara- tion of food. FREE TENT CATALOG Eureka! StormShield Catalog shows over 40 models for camping. Includes umbrella, dome, A-frame and the NEW Hexagonal umbrella tents. For FREE catalog, call 1-800-848-3673 Eureka? Tent The StormShield™ P.O. Box 966—M16 « Binghamton, NY 13902 comfortable country inn, birdwatch- Gaeaer ST. SIMONS 4 av ae Enjoy a —_ midis beachwalking, nature hiking, canoeing, horseback riding and boating with no more than 24 guests. PO. Box 1078NH St. Simons, Ga. 31522 912-638-7472 Send for FREE dolphins poster and cataise! 141 Blackberry Inn H Weaverville, NC 28787 PEEP ORE DOA IT’S EVERYTHING A CANOE ISN’T. A canoe is tippy. A Poke Boat isn't. It's remarkably stable It weighs only 28 pounds - built with aircraft strength. A canoe is hard to turn and difficult to keep in astraight line. 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(Title alone is sufficient.) Inquire, please. Write: BOOK HUNTERS Since Box 7519-Dept. 75 1958 NORTH BERGEN, NJ 07047 eS A AA RTO TEE MOU MAUMEE LAL meYO iN ene OMT BO RRM TMT Eat mene reefs. Sun on the Keys’ finest beach. HURT MUNN TUCO ITS TC O)' the Lower Keys invite you to experi- ence life as it was meant to eam OUTSOLE Yam IO Rem ENCOUTIELEONTR BLOM reo evan 1-800-USA-ESCAPE. FLORIDA'S LOWER KEYS 9] Lady of the Flies Ona pleasant afternoon in East Africa’s Serengeti Plain, a lioness takes her royal ease after a hearty lunch of antelope steak. No creature would dare to disturb—bzzzzt—or provoke the queen of beasts as she—bzzzzt—takes her rest. Well, almost none. The squadron of winged invaders consists of ubiquitous East African pests known locally as Masai flies: insects that plague people and animals alike, particularly when they smell blood. As the lioness had apparently neglected to lick her snout clean after dining, dozens of flies were drawn to feed and lay their eggs on her carrion-smeared face. This portrait of the feline monarch under siege was taken in Kenya’s Masai- Mara Game Reserve by veteran wildlife photographer Boyd Norton. In 1989, he was cruising the plain in his Land-Rover near a spot where a leopard had draped an antelope carcass in a low tree on the previous night. His African guide believed the lioness had scavenged her meal from the leopard’s day-old kill, which made her face particularly aromatic. After expressing her annoyance, the lioness, in a belated bout of feline fastidiousness, dispatched her tormentors with a few swipes of her tongue.—R. M. Photograph by Boyd Norton NatuRAL History 4/91 ‘ieee PORE eee p 3 Bia Roa ot tee soi and Total Relaxation Our recliner is like no other chair ee the world! _) Adjustable from upright to a fully horizontal position. 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We Offer You The World 3540 N.W. 13 Street « Gainesville, FL 32609 NEW LIGHTWEIGHT MODELS FOR 1994 SS boat with your luggage to rw Bermuda or cartop one of NEW SQ \S\ WAY our rotomolded models to the closest river or lake, a FOLDING & Folbot is still the best ROTOMOLDED way iS travel on ter, Stabl BOATS from $375 rececuetard Sailrigs, spray skirts, rock, quiet and paddles and many \. have been an FREE COLOR CATALOG NS BORN TO TRAVEL Whether you check a folding efficient to pad- dle, Folbots other accessories e PRK SQ outsan ang FOLBOT "SQ cali -800-533-5099 or write Folbot, Inc FACTORY DIRECT PO Box 70877, Dept.NH PRICES — SATISFACTION Charleston, SC 29415 GUARANTEED 94 Narturat History 4/91 Fascinated by the “abrupt, often cata- clysmic metamorphoses of marine ses- sile invertebrates,” marine biologist Christopher G. Reed (page 40) special- ized in the morphology and development of bryozoans, brachiopods, and _poly- chaetes. Reed grew up on Vashon Is- land, in Puget Sound near Seattle, and developed an early, ardent interest in natural history. He was educated in his native state, earning both bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in zoology from the University of Washington and doing fieldwork at the university’s Friday Har- bor Laboratories in the San Juan archi- pelago. In 1980 he came east for a post- doctoral fellowship at Harvard, and in 1982 he joined the Department of Biol- Transplanted Americans, Patricia Vickers-Rich and Thomas H. Rich (page 32) have been excavating fossils and teaching in Australia since the mid- 1970s. Both studied paleontology at the University of California at Berkeley and earned doctorates in geology at Colum- bia University in New York. Interested in natural history “since at least four years of age,” Patricia is now a reader in the earth sciences and biology depart- ments at Monash University in Clayton, Victoria, while Tom is a curator of verte- brate paleontology at the Museum of Victoria in Melbourne. Sponsored by a variety of organizations, including the Australian government and the National Geographic Society, the Riches’ field- work in southern Australia has been car- ried out with the help of hundreds of stu- dents and volunteers, many from Earth- = ogy at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire. Known as a witty and enthusiastic lecturer who inspired stu- dents, at Dartmouth Reed twice re- ceived special recognition for distin- guished teaching. Although bryozoans were his first love, Reed also enjoyed studying vertebrates and made many ob- servations of skunks, raccoons, snakes, owls, and bats in the wild. After an ex- tended illness, Christopher Reed died in January 1990 at the age of 38. He left a wife and an infant daughter. The Chris- topher Reed Memorial Fund, which as- sists student research at the Friday Har- bor Laboratories, has been established at the University of Washington Office of Gift Policy, Seattle WA 98195. watch, who have, over the years, dug, blasted, and hauled tons of rock at Dino- saur Cove. The Riches have also brought an awareness of Australia’s fossil history to the general public through television documentaries and educational pro- grams. Authors and editors of many books, Pat and Tom Rich collaborated with Mildred Adams Fenton on a revi- sion of The Fossil Book (New York: Doubleday and Company, 1989), an il- lustrated guide to prehistoric life. Aus- tralia’s fossil record is the subject of Kadimakara: Extinct Vertebrates of Australia, edited by P. V. Rich and G. FE van Tets, illustrated by F Knight (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1990), and Vertebrate Zoogeography and Evolution in Australia, edited by M. Archer and G. Clayton (Carlisle, Australia: Hesperian Press, 1984). “Here is a difficult book I know I don’t need anymore. Here, you take it,” was what an archeology professor told Joyce Marcus (page 26) back in 1969, when she was a senior in college. The book in question was An Introduction to the Study of the Maya Hieroglyphs, written in 1915 by Sylvanus G. Morley. Since then, Marcus has avidly pursued the antecedents of Maya writing. Her other research concerns early villages and chiefdoms in Oaxaca, Mexico, and aspects of Maya political organization. Marcus is a professor of anthropology at the University of Michigan and curator of Latin American archeology at the uni- versity’s Museum of Anthropology. For further reading she recommends The Ancient Maya (4th ed.), by Sylvanus G. Morley, George W. Brainerd, and Rob- ert J. Sharer (Stanford: Stanford Uni- versity Press, 1983); “Early Steps in the Evolution of Maya Writing,” by Mi- chael D. Coe, in Origins of Religious Art and Iconography in Preclassic Mes- oamerica, edited by Henry B. Nicholson (Los Angeles: UCLA Latin American Center, 1976); and “Zapotec Writing,” by Joyce Marcus (Scientific American, February 1980). American Museum of Natural History Exploring Polynesia Fiji, Tonga, Niue, Cook Islands, Bora Bora and Tahiti September 16-30, 1991 Explore remote and rarely visited Polynesian islands with a team of Museum and guest experts. Swim and snorkel amidst spectacular coral reefs teeming with exotic fish. Discover gorgeous jungle valleys, coconut groves and banana plantations. Experience the tranquil daily life-style of Polynesians as they go about their tasks of fishing, garden- ing, canoe building, thatch-weaving, carving and craftsmaking. Enjoy traditional islander dancing and singing performances. Our base for this voyage is the very comfortable, 75-cabin World Discoverer. Highlights include: Fiji, an exciting, multiracial crossroads of the Pacific with exquisite beaches and offshore reefs. Tonga, Captain Cook’s ‘Friendly Islands’, with its wooden Royal Palace, flying foxes, stalagmite caves and forests of fragrant tropical plants. Niue, a picturesque island with breathtaking sheer lime- stone cliffs along its coast. The Cook Islands, including rarely-visited Atiu, a beautiful raised coral atoll. ay Bora Bora, where sparkling blue lagoons and jagged peaks ablaze with hibiscus make it one of the most spectacular islands on earth. a Tahiti, a famous tropical paradise and site of the glorious and sacred Marae of Arahurahu. American Museum of Central Park West at 79th Street New York, NY 10024-5192 (212) 769-5700 in New York State or toll-free (800) 462-8687 BAN RR History Discovery Cruises Standing in the desert in Oman, Rob- ert S. White (page 50) points to the base of a slab of oceanic crust, which was shoved onto land when an ancient sea was caught between the earth’s shifting plates. The site is one of the few places where geologists can observe oceanic crust from top to bottom. White has de- voted most of his career to studying such crust, which forms two-thirds of the earth’s surface. He went to the Univer- sity of Cambridge as an undergraduate to study physics, but his love of the out- doors and the attraction of studying the geology hidden beneath the oceans (which was still largely unexplored) won him over to the subject of geophysics. Currently a geophysicist at Cambridge, White continues to study the earth’s crustal structure and the interplay be- tween tectonics and magmatism. For further reading, he recommends Robert and Barbara Decker’s book, Volcanoes (San Francisco: W.H. Freeman and Company, 1989). 96 Naturat History 4/91 In 1964, shortly after he began his ar- cheological exploration of the high mountains of northwest Argentina, Juan Schobinger (page 62) excavated the mummy of a twenty-year-old man on Cerro El Toro. Now he reports on a more recent discovery, the mummy of a young boy sacrificed by the Inca on Cerro Aconcagua, the highest mountain in the Western Hemisphere. A professor of prehistoric archeology at the National University of Cuyo, in Mendoza, Schobinger has also spent many years studying South American prehistoric art, especially the rock art of western Ar- gentina. For additional reading, he rec- ommends: The Conquest of the Incas, by John Hemming (Orlando: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1973); The History of the Incas, by Alfred Metraux (New York: Schocken Books, 1970); The In- credible Incas and Their Timeless Land, by Loren McIntyre (Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 1975); and The Inka Road System, by John Hyslop (Orlando: Academic Press, 1984). On the morning of November 11, 1962, Boyd Norton (page 92) deliber- ately blew up a nuclear reactor—part of his job as a research physicist and tech- nical director of reactor safety studies at the National Reactor Testing Station in Idaho. Nowadays, the only thing Norton blows up are his photographs; after a dramatic career shift in 1970, he has be- come a successful free-lance photogra- pher and writer specializing in global environmental issues. He has photo- graphed orangutans in Borneo, grizzly bears in the American wilderness, and a wide assortment of African animals in their native habitats. Norton is the au- thor-photographer of nine books, his most recent being The Mountain Go- rilla and Boyd Norton’s PhotoJournal, a travel and field notebook for photogra- phers. When he’s not in the wilds of Bor- neo or Siberia or Africa, he lives in Ever- green, Colorado, with his wife, Barbara, two pet snakes, and, he claims, a piano- playing cat. To photograph the lioness for this month’s “Natural Moment,” Norton used a Leica R5 with a 400mm Leica Telyt lens. He prefers the softer light of slightly overcast days to capture subtle details of color and texture in por- traits of wildlife. AMERICAN MUSEU M OF NATURAL HISTORY From the renowned collections of the American Museum of Natural History, the most beautiful and authoritative book ever published on gemstones... ; j 1 “GEMS & ! 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